Year: 2017-18

Company: Pfizer

Liaison(s): Ricardo Rojo, Ramy Hassan, Pol Vandernbroucke

As one of the top pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer is driven to develop novel therapies that significantly improve patients’ lives. Founded in 1849, Pfizer is a global leader in pharmaceutical research, providing life-changing drugs such as Lipitor and Celebrex. The company has dedicated itself to a vast range of different therapeutic areas, including diabetes, oncology, and immunology. In order to provide the pharmaceutical industry’s most innovative treatments, Pfizer conducts world-class research. A growing concern for pharmaceutical research is adequate demographic representation in clinical trials, and Pfizer is active in working to achieve this goal. In this year’s project, our TMP team focused on formulating a social media strategy to increase minority clinical trial participation. During this process, the team thoroughly researched the topic including literature reviews, and discussions on health behavior change with an expert in the area. After collecting data, the team formulated a high-impact, multi-channel social media strategy to increase minority clinical trial participation. This strategy requires company-wide and clinical trial site-specific implementation to maximally influence minority participation. In this document, the team highlighted the barriers that hinders minorities from participation and described the social media attributes that could be used effectively in overcoming these barriers. The team also conceptualized the potential effects of the proposed strategy in the guidance document, using City of Hope and the greater Los Angeles area as an example. Through this social media strategy, the team provided several recommendations to help Pfizer address the issue of minority clinical trial representation.