Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Skip to main content
Home

Header Top Menu

  • News & Featured Stories
  • Media
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Our Science

    Sub Menu 1

    • Pfizer in the UK
      • Our History
      • Pharmaceutical Sciences
      • Devices Centre of Excellence
      • Global Regulatory Affairs
      • Material Characterisation Team
      • Anti-Counterfeit Laboratory
    • Our Therapy Areas
      • Anti-Infectives
      • Inflammation and Immunology
      • Internal Medicine
      • Oncology
      • Rare Disease
      • Vaccines

    Sub Menu 2

    • Developing New Medicines
      • Clinical Trials
      • Pipeline
    • Research partnerships
      • ADDoPT
      • Innovative Target Exploration Network (ITEN)
      • INSPIRE Programme
      • Medical Research Council Collaboration
      • The Stratified Medicine Programme
      • Partnership with Regeneron for UK Biobank exome sequencing
    • Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives
    Hot Topic

    Re-shaping Cancer

    Re-shaping cancer
  • Products

    Sub Menu 4

    • Prescription medicines

    Sub Menu 5

    • Safety of Medicines
      • Medicines Regulation
      • Reporting Side Effects
      • Counterfeit Medicines
    Hot Topic

    Vaccines partnerships

    Vaccines partnerships
  • Responsibility

    Sub Menu 7

    • Transparency
      • HCP & HCO Annual Disclosure Reports
      • Healthcare Organisation Grants
      • Research and Development Funding
      • Patient Organisation Funding and Support
    • Codes of Conduct
      • Gender Pay Gap Report
      • Section 172 Statements
      • Pfizer UK Modern Slavery Statement
      • Pfizer UK Tax Strategy

    Sub Menu 8

    • Environmental Sustainability
      • Climate Action
      • Global Actions
      • Our Partnerships & Commitments
      • Sustainable Medicines
      • UK Actions
    • Insurance Details
    • Animal Welfare
    Hot Topic

    Putting Patients First

    Putting Patients First
  • UK Society

    Sub Menu 10

    • Social Investment
      • Volunteering and Fundraising
      • Medicines Donations
    • Raising Public Awareness
      • Change the Course
      • Pfizer Sponsors Science Museum Group's 'Cancer Revolution' Exhibition
      • Pfizer Sponsors the Superhero Series
      • Pfizer sponsors Science Museum exhibition 'Superbugs'
      • Pfizer at the British Science Festival
      • Turning Heads at Westminster

    Sub Menu 11

    • Science Education
      • Developing Science Talent
      • 'Superbugs Join The Fight' School Programme
      • Online Learning
        • Student Education Area
        • Teacher Resources
      • Community Lab
      • Career Talks
      • Lab in a Box
    • Pfizer Worldwide
      • Global Health Fellows
      • Global Aid and Emergency Relief
      • International Trachoma Initiative
    Hot Topic

    'Superbugs' Competition Winners

    Superbugs Winners
  • UK Health System

    Sub Menu 16

    • Working with the NHS and other Healthcare Organisations
      • Collaborative Working
        • Collaborative Working Project between Lloyds Pharmacy and Pfizer Vaccines
        • Joint Working
      • Donations and Grants
        • Independent Medical Grants and Donations
        • Donations of Goods, Services and Benefit in Kind
        • Grants
        • Donations and Grants Enquiry Form
    • Working with Healthcare Professionals
      • FAQs: Working with Healthcare Professionals
      • Pharmacy
      • Healthcare Professionals Congress Sponsorship

    Sub Menu 17

    • Working with Patient Organisations
      • Patient Involvement in Research and Development
      • Our ongoing partnership with the UK Sepsis Trust
      • Partnering with the NIHR and young people on clinical research
    • Pfizer Healthcare Hub
      • Pfizer Healthcare Hub: 2018
      • Pfizer Healthcare Hub: 2017
      • Connect with the Hub
    Hot topic

    Osteoarthritis

    Osteoarthritis
  • News & Featured Stories
  • Media
  • Careers

    Carrers

    • Search Current Vacancies
    • Apprenticeships
      • Apprenticeship Vacancies
    • Undergraduate Placements
      • Undergraduate Vacancies
    • Meet our people
    • UK Top Employer
    • How Pfizer is fostering meaningful growth for every colleague, everywhere
  • Contact Us
  • Footer links

    Footer mobile menu

    • Footer Menu
    • Footer menu
      • Contact Us
      • Cookie Policy
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Sitemap
    • Footer social item
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Instagram
      • YouTube

Re-shaping Cancer - Breakthroughs that change patients' lives

Re-shaping Cancer - Breakthroughs that change patients' lives
News & Featured Stories/ Re-shaping Cancer - Breakthroughs that change patients' lives
06/12/2021

Dr Olivia Ashman
Oncology Medical Director, Pfizer UK

Evolving Nature of Cancer

 
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.1 Cancer Research UK predicts that one in two of us will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in our lives, with only 38% of cases being preventable.2 Since cancer is a disease driven by DNA mutations, its story is one of evolution,3 and it’s critical that treatment advances keep pace with these changes. Fortunately, recent breakthroughs in cancer treatments have the opportunity to transform the outcomes for many patients, enabling them to live their fullest possible lives.  

Thanks to significant scientific advances in understanding many cancers, coupled with innovative treatment breakthroughs, over the past decade cancer care has been transformed. The latest developments in oncology and medicine are getting to grips with the evolutionary nature of cancer and using it against the disease to develop more effective treatments. Through improvements in the identification of risk factors, earlier diagnosis, and new treatments, we have started to move many types of cancer from a fatal condition to a chronic one that can be managed over time.4

 

The latest developments in oncology and medicine are getting to grips with the evolutionary nature of cancer and using it against the disease to develop more effective treatments." 

 

Leading the way with delivering new treatments


Pfizer conducts ground-breaking research and develops innovative treatments for the improvement of patients’ lives. We are developing treatments that are as diverse as the disease itself with a focus on opening up new frontiers in science, such as personalised medicine. Ultimately, our work is guided by the urgency to help patients receive the next wave of life-changing cancer medicines.

What if keeping one step ahead of cancer, meant totally rethinking and reshaping our understanding of the disease and how we treat it?

The key to successful cancer treatment is not just to understand how cancer cells behave on their own, but to learn how they evade the body’s immune system and existing treatments.5 Pfizer’s pipeline of potential cancer medicines spanning breast, hematologic, genitourinary, lung and skin cancers include a range of therapies with multiple mechanisms of action that target both the tumour itself and the immune system. Personalised medicine, where treatments can be tailored to patients, thereby moving away from the “one-size-fits-all” approach, is also becoming more prevalent in cancer treatment.5

Advances in genetic sequencing has led to personalised medicines being used more frequently to treat patients, particularly for the treatment of lung cancer.6 When a patient is diagnosed, genetic testing means that treatment can be tailored to them. Advances in treatment options are proving to be critical to improving outcomes for patients for a variety of cancers,7 and our journey of research and discovery won’t stop there. When cancers spread to the brain, they can become more challenging to treat. We are currently developing molecules that may be able to cross the blood-brain barrier – a dense collection of cells which act as a security wall to protect our most vital organ - to help defeat such tumours. We believe targeted therapies that bypass the blood-brain barrier may lead to new treatment options for patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be a challenging time for many cancer patients. As one of the developers of a COVID-19 vaccine, we are keen to harness mRNA technology into developing new treatments, such as a cancer vaccine.8 The opportunities in the prevention of cancer are significant, and we can already see the success of the HPV vaccine, which has been shown to prevent nearly 90 per cent of cervical cancers.9

Recent breakthroughs in cancer have demonstrated the importance of working together – pooling our skills and experience to deliver the best for patients. As we continue to rethink and reshape our understanding of cancer, our approach is to develop meaningful collaborations with the NHS and scientific community. Our mission is to improve cancer outcomes, and to achieve this we are committed to working with academia, government, foundations, biotechnology or other large pharmaceutical companies.

As part of our ongoing work to share the story of the transformation in cancer care, Pfizer Oncology is proud to sponsor the Cancer Revolution exhibition curated by the Science Museum Group. The exhibitions, held in Manchester from October 2021 to March 2022 and in London from May 2022, shine a spotlight on the evolutionary nature of cancer and look at the available tools and treatments that offer a new direction in oncology and the clinical control of cancer.

A cancer diagnosis is the start of a new chapter in life. With new developments in medicine and oncology, we get to take charge of the narrative and tell a new and more hopeful cancer story.

 

 

References

  1. National Cancer Institute. Cancer Statistics Accessed Oct 2021.
  2. Cancer Research UK. Cancer risk statistics Accessed Oct 2021.
  3. Harvard University. Cancer Evolve- Tagging and Tracking Can Help Us Understand How Accessed Oct 2021.
  4. Francesca Maria Pizzoli, S., et al. From life-threatening to chronic disease: Is this the case of cancers? A systematic review Accessed Oct 2021.
  5. Cancer Research UK. Is the one-size-fits-all treatment approach obsolete? Accessed Oct 2021.
  6. American Cancer Society. Cancer Research Insights from the Latest Decade, 2010 to 2020 Accessed Oct 2021.
  7. Krzyszczyk P, Acevedo A, Davidoff EJ, et al. The growing role of precision and personalized medicine for cancer treatment Accessed Oct 2021.
  8. Miao, L., Zhang, Y. & Huang, L. mRNA vaccine for cancer immunotherapy Accessed Oct 2021.
  9. National Cancer Institute. Large Study Confirms that HPV Vaccine Prevents Cervical Cancer Accessed Oct 2021.

 

PP-ONC-GBR-2353 / November 2021

Related Hot Topics
What is a Variant
What is a Variant?
Patients at heart of clinical trials
Why putting patients at the heart of Pfizer UK’s clinical trials continues to…
AMR Explained
Antimicrobial Resistance Explained
Infection Management Coalition Paper
Cross-Industry Coalition Tackling ‘Hidden Pandemic’ of Antibiotic Resistant…
Maternal Immunisation
Protecting Babies from Inside the Womb
Protease Inhibitor
How Does a Protease Inhibitor Work?
Gene Sequencing
How Gene Sequencing Inaugurated a New Era in Modern Medicine
How Do Viruses Make Us Sick?
How Do Viruses Make Us Sick?
Tags
Science / R&D
Oncology

Footer

  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap

Footer aside

  • Footer Aside
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

Copyright © 2017-2022 Pfizer Limited. PP-PFE-GBR-4248 / Nov 2021. All rights reserved. Registered in England and Wales No. 526209. Registered office: Ramsgate Road, Sandwich, Kent CT13 9NJ. VAT No. GB201048427