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Pfizer Marks 50th Year in the Philippines
PFIZER Inc., the largest research-based healthcare company in the world, celebrates its 50th anniversary in the Philippines this year. To commemorate its establishment in the country in 1954, Pfizer will mark this milestone with a series of community projects and innovative programs for its employees and its partners in healthcare.
"On our 50th anniversary, Pfizer is reaffirming its commitment to help improve the health and quality of life of the Filipino people, " said Pfizer president and country manager Gerry Bacarro.
"In the Philippines, Pfizer has worked tirelessly over the past five decades in making available various innovative and effective products, which helped in the treatment of serious, life-threatening diseases as well as common, everyday ailments. We are determined to continue to do so in the decades ahead, " Bacarro added.
Aside from having safe and effective medicines that treat infections and respiratory illnesses, manage cholesterol and the pain and inflammation brought about by arthritis, control hypertension and mental disabilities; Pfizer also develops medicines for livestock and companion animals. The Pfizer Animal Health division produces vaccines for infections like rabies, medicines to treat arthritis and pneumonia, and vitamins.
Also, through Pfizer's Consumer Health division, the company has become a part of every Filipino home with familiar medicines Filipinos have all grown up with - Listerine Mouthwash, Visine (Tetrahydroziline HCl) Eye Drops, Combantrin (Oxantel Pamoate), Bonamine (Meclizine HCl), and Ponstan 250 (Mefenamic Acid), among others.
Pfizer's commitment to improving lives goes beyond developing innovative medicines. Pfizer has also partnered with the government and various private organizations to provide better access to healthcare especially for needy and medically underserved communities. It launched the Leaders for Health program, in partnership with the Department of Health and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, to train and develop local government officials and community leaders, and to provide effective leadership in various levels of the Philippine health care system.
The company has been actively engaged over the past 50 years in community projects such as medical missions, disaster relief operations, and other outreach programs. Through partnerships with organizations such as United Way Philippines, Lingkod E.R., UP-PGH Medical Foundation and PHAP Cares Foundation, it was able to reach out to Filipinos with little or no access to health care.
Pfizer supports the continuing medical education of doctors, allied medical professionals and medical students through the establishment of eight medical information centers in medical institutions and the development of the websites of over 40 medical societies and institutions.
It has embarked on advocacy campaigns that increase awareness about certain diseases. It supported the Philippine Association of Diabetes Educators to promote diabetes prevention among the youth. Through a partnership with The Asia Foundation, it assisted Kythe and the Philippine Cancer Society in heightening interest on leukemia and other forms of cancer.
Through the same partnership, Pfizer also has been helping in better understanding of mental diseases. Pfizer is currently working with the Cerebral Palsied Association of the Philippines, a group that hopes to make the public know more about this condition, and with the I Empathize Group, a support group for people who are suffering from depression.
Pfizer has also been contributing to the country's social upliftment. Through the Read to Lead reading advocacy program of Visine (Tetrahydroziline HCl), Pfizer has been encouraging the youth to read more and become better leaders in the future through ads, mall events and book donations to public schools and libraries. With the Biyahe Tayo! campaign by Bonamine (Meclizine HCl), Pfizer has been supporting the Department of Tourism's efforts to encourage Filipinos to travel within our country an help boost the economy.
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