Advancing Breakthroughs for Cancer Patients

At Pfizer, we focus our efforts on understanding and treating the world’s biggest diseases where people have the greatest need for new breakthroughs and treatments. Take cancer, for example. About 1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime in the United States—which means just about every family will be impacted by this dreaded disease.

Combining new technologies in science with our decades of cancer research, we are working to deliver the next wave of medical breakthroughs across a range of cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, hematological malignancies, lung cancer, and more. Recently, several of my Pfizer Oncology colleagues attended the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, where they shared details about some of our most significant developments. For example:

• Breast cancer: It is estimated that every 14 seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer—and this disease is considered the most commonly occurring cancer in women worldwide, impacting millions of people. We are working urgently to develop new solutions such as a potential treatment for drug-resistant breast cancer and utilizing real-world evidence to complement our clinical trial data and better understand how our medicines are used in everyday care.
• Prostate cancer: After non-melanoma skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in men in the US, and an estimated 20-30% of men will relapse five years after initial therapy. We have seen promising results in a potential combination treatment that pairs our prostate cancer medicine with one of our cancer drugs known for its ability to repair DNA damage: the combo reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 55% for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer whose tumors harbor homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene mutations.
• Lung cancer: The number one cause of cancer death worldwide, lung cancer is a devastating disease with a relatively low survival rate—in fact, more than half of people who have lung cancer die within one year of being diagnosed. In light of that unmet need, we worked relentlessly to develop and market the first precision medicine in lung cancer that targets a mutated gene known as the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene. Most recently, we have seen promising primary efficacy and safety results in a potential combination treatment for BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer that has the potential to significantly improve outcomes for patients, if approved.
• Blood cancer: Globally, there are more than 176,000 new cases diagnosed annually of the blood cancer known as Multiple Myeloma (or MM), a rare disease in which cancerous plasma cells multiply in the bone marrow and crowd out healthy blood cells. The median survival is just over five years, and there is currently no cure. Most patients undergo four or more lines of therapy. Recently, we saw promising results from our investigational bispecific antibody in patients with relapsed or refractory MM, highlighting its potential as a new treatment option for those living with this aggressive blood cancer, if approved.  

Every second is critical when you are battling cancer, and we know patients are waiting. That’s why we are working around the clock to further strengthen what is already one of the broadest and most comprehensive portfolios of cancer medicines in the pharmaceutical industry.

Our current portfolio is able to treat more than 30 different types of cancer, and we have dozens more programs in development. We’re determined to realize the next generation of cancer care, with multi-modal approaches to attack cancer from multiple angles. Our pipeline spans next-generation biologics, small molecules, bispecific antibodies, and other immune-oncology agents, and we are involved in more than 300 oncology clinical trials.

We also know that the solutions for cancer are not discovered or developed in a vacuum. So, we are focused on pursuing the most promising science and partnering with the strongest scientists in oncology wherever they are found, be it in academia, governments, foundations, or other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

A big part of our cancer moonshot is working to ensure that we can reach every single person who needs cancer care. That is why we collaborate with governments, policymakers and patient advocacy organizations to remove barriers to obtaining our medicines, and to ensure people with cancer have the means and resources to get the treatments they need. For example, we’ve provided more than $20 million in grants worldwide for projects focused on reducing disparities in care across various cancer types.

Most importantly, we never lose sight of the fact that patients are the reason we get up every morning. We continuously engage with our patients through every stage of their oncology journeys, from optimizing their experiences during clinical trials, to addressing health literacy needs, to providing resources for financing.

We know that we can win the fight against cancer—and we’re working to create a future where families can enjoy their lives free from the impact of this disease. A future where science wins.