• Pipeline
• Post Marketing Commitments
• Clinical Trials
• Science Policy
  • Conducting Ethical Research
    • Global Clinical Trial Standards
    • Registration, Disclosure & Authorship
    • Compensation to Investigators
    • Compensation to Trial Participants
    • Compassionate Use Policy
    • Stem Cell Research
• R&D Locations
• Licensing, Development & Alliances
• Investigator-Initiated Research

Pfizer's Commitment to Conducting Research in an Ethical Manner

“We must continue to ask ourselves, ‘What is best for the patient?’ —not just in our view, but in the view of physicians and the patients themselves. This critical question will always be the key driver of everything we do.”—Jeff Kindler, CEO and Chairman of the Board

This aspiration drives our efforts to find new medicines for unmet or underserved medical needs thus offering patients around the world hope for a healthier life. To ensure that these medicines are safe and effective, we strive to maintain the highest ethical, scientific, and clinical standards in all clinical research undertaken. For scientific, humanitarian and regulatory reasons, we perform these trials around the world, uniformly applying the necessary rigor to ensure top quality research while demonstrating utmost respect for the health, well being, and safety of the research participant and the culture, laws, and regulations of the countries in which we conduct these studies.

Integrity, Respect for People, Leadership, Performance, Teamwork, Community, Innovation and Customer Focus—these are Pfizer's values. They define our priorities, actions and decisions, including how we conduct our clinical trials.

All Pfizer clinical research is conducted in accordance with longstanding ethical and clinical guidelines such as the Nuremburg Code (1947) and the Belmont Report (1979). Pfizer's research is consistent with guidelines such as the International Conference on Harmonization Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (1996) and the PhRMA Principles on the Conduct of Clinical Trials (2002). Like other pharmaceutical companies, we have adopted detailed internal procedures for providing research participants with key information on the clinical trial, including potential risks and benefits of participation, as well as procedures governing the monitoring of the clinical trial by an outside group of experts to ensure the protection of the rights and welfare of participants.

We recognize, however, that there are some aspects of clinical research for which ethical standards are continuing to evolve. To address these evolving issues, Pfizer has created a number of policy statements that govern the conduct of our clinical trials around the world. In addition, a cross-divisional group made up of colleagues throughout Pfizer analyzes emerging and evolving clinical trial issues on an on-going basis and develops new policies, as appropriate.

Thus far, we have created policy statements on the following topics:

• Policy on Global Clinical Trial Standards—This policy outlines Pfizer standards for the conduct of clinical trials globally.
• Policy on Registration of Studies, Public Disclosure of Results, and Authorship—Learn more about Pfizer's policy on the disclosure or publication of clinical trail results.
• Policy on Compensation to Investigators in Clinical Trials—Learn how Pfizer addresses the issue of potential financial conflicts of interest faced by physician-investigators.
• Policy on Compensation to Human Research Subjects in Clinical Studies—Learn about Pfizer’s position regarding compensation of both patients and healthy research subjects during the conduct of Pfizer-sponsored clinical trials.
• Policy on Compassionate Use—This policy is designed to strike a balance between the public interest in securing the approval of a new drug and the fair treatment of critically ill patients.
• Policy on Stem Cell Research—Review Pfizer’s commitment to upholding the highest ethical standards when dealing with the evolving issues surrounding stem cell research.
• Policy on Laboratory Animal Care—Learn how Pfizer works to ensure the safety and ethical treatment of animals used for research purposes.

We will continue to add clinical trial policy statements to this Web page as they are developed.