Year: 2014-15

Company: Pfizer

Liaison(s): Karen Brooks

Pfizer is a multinational pharmaceutical company
headquartered in New York City. Since its
establishment in 1849 as a manufacturer of fine
chemicals, Pfizer has developed into a world leader in
research-based pharmaceuticals. Pfizer develops and
produces medicines and vaccines for a wide range of
medical disciplines, including immunology, oncology,
cardiology, diabetes/endocrinology, and neurology.
The ultimate goal of the Pfizer TMP is to help clinical
trial teams at Pfizer recruit and retain groups of patients
that better reflect the diversity of patients with certain
specified diseases. Ethnicity, sex, age, and socioeconomic
differences are all factors that impact patient outcomes
but are rarely accounted for in current clinical trials.
Since some medical conditions are more prevalent and
medications affect certain groups more than others, this
is a problem that must be addressed.
The Pfizer TMP pursued the project goals using a
variety of approaches. Initially, the team researched
epidemiological data for 82 different diseases to create
disease profiles that identify disparities in ethnicity,
sex, age, and socioeconomic demographics in the U.S
population. Next, the team reviewed efforts by Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes
of Health (NIH), academia, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs)/patient advocacy groups, and
non-Pfizer contract research organizations (CROs)
to assess what efforts were being made to address
disparities. The disease data was then analyzed for
trends and outliers to identify the greatest disparities
in clinical trials. Finally, the team utilized both
Pfizer’s internal documents and key opinion leader
recommendations to provide a recruitment and
retention tool for new studies.