A Facebook (FB) post shared by Filipinos claimed that American pharmaceutical company Pfizer has not cured any type of disease. This is incorrect. Pfizer helped develop medicines to treat severe fungal infections, bacterial diseases and the vaccine against the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).
In an FB post dated Jan. 18, a netizen claimed:
“PFIZER HAS BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR 175 YEARS AND HASN’T CURED ONE SINGLE DISEASE | Let that sink in.”
The claim, which first appeared in 2024 as Pfizer celebrated its 175th anniversary, reappeared after Pfizer President Albert Bourla discussed the pharmaceutical company’s focus in 2025, including those in the fields of cancer and obesity research.
Treating fungal infections
British scientist Ken Richardson led a research team at Pfizer in 1981 which discovered the antifungal medication Fluconazole.
Fluconazole is currently used to treat diseases caused by severe fungal infections such as candidiasis, Valley fever (coccidioidomycosis), cryptococcosis, and histoplasmosis, among others, according to a 2024 article published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Addressing COVID-19
Pfizer, in collaboration with German biotech company BioNTech, developed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) to help combat the novel coronavirus outbreak in 2020.
In December 2020, the vaccine – sold under the name Comirnaty – was the first to be authorized for emergency use in the United Kingdom and for regular use in Switzerland. By August 2021, Comirnaty became the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the United States (U.S.) for general use.
Developing antibiotics
Scientists at Pfizer worked on the development of antibiotics from the 1950s to the 1960s, beginning with the invention of a semi-synthetic antibiotic called oxytetracycline, according to a 2011 journal entry in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
A group of scientists at Pfizer led by Lloyd Conover eventually created doxycycline, a more stable and effective antibiotic approved for clinical use in 1971, the journal entry added.
Doxycycline is currently used to treat bacterial infections such as acne, chlamydia and syphilis. It is also used to prevent malaria and anthrax, according to U.S. resource MedlinePlus.
The post by FB page Jerry Purpdrank (created on June 6, 2015), which was shared by Filipino netizens, garnered over 3,063 reactions, 301 comments, and 1,039 shares.
