As ASCO Comes To A Close, Special Thanks To The Medical Heroes

Cross-posted from Pfizer's Think Science Now

Today marks the final day of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Meetings such as ASCO are an important gathering place for researchers, clinicians, and patients to share the latest data on new treatments. With high unmet medical need remaining for cancer patients, a great deal of energy and hope hovers over ASCO.

At this year’s meeting, Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies shared data from experimental drugs and biologics for cancer of the lung, brain, and more.

This progress is a result of the dedication of researchers at Pfizer and our partners from academia and other companies, working side-by-side with physicians serving as investigators to understand how these new treatments work in their patients.

But a special thanks must also go to the patients who volunteer as participants in our cancer clinical trials.

We know that it takes partnerships to address diseases as important as cancer. Sometimes these are Partnerships of drug companies working together, such as the collaboration in cancer research between Pfizer, Merck, and Lilly announced earlier this year.

It also takes partnerships with patients. This is why we sponsor organizations such as CISCRP (The Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research Participation) a non-profit created to inform the public about clinical research. CISCRP created the Medical Heroes program to honor and thank those who have given by taking part in clinical research.

(We also have a partnership underway with Private Access to help inform patients about clinical trials; more on that later.)

Pfizer has over 100 cancer clinical trials underway. According to PhRMA, our industry has over 800 medicines and vaccines in testing against cancer. But all of this progress will stop if not for patients serving as participants – and Medical Heroes.

Information about clinical trial participation can be found at websites hosted by FDA and NIH.

To help find a trial you can contact the Pfizer Oncology Clinical Trial Information Service by phone (877-369-5793) or online (www.pfizercancertrials.com). The service is free and confidential.