In-vivo and Ex-vivo Delivery Systems
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15/12/2025
Pfizer’s ‘Part of the Story’ campaign aims to shift the cancer narrative.
Although nearly one in two of us are likely to be diagnosed with some form of cancer in our lifetime,1 significant advances in treatment and detection over the past 50 years mean we are living for longer after a cancer diagnosis.2 While the median survival time across all cancers in the 1970s was just one year, today it exceeds 10 years,3 and the ten-year survival rate has doubled from 23% to 50%.4
Despite the improved outlook, cancer is the public’s biggest health concern with two thirds of people stating they are worried about being told they have cancer, which is higher than for any other medical condition.5 This is perhaps unsurprising considering that society and particularly the media, tend to oversimplify or sensationalise cancer so that patients are represented as either terminally ill or miraculously cured, which does not reflect the lived experience of most people affected by the disease.6,7
“Inclusion of characters and storylines via the arts that incorporate cancer not as the subject, but simply as one aspect of a story, help us to transfigure the feared and unknown into the familiar and routine fabric of the public consciousness.” 8
More accurate and authentic representations of cancer in mainstream media could help change attitudes towards the disease by destigmatising and desensitising issues and by offering useful information. This is important given the disease’s increasing prevalence and the growing recognition that certain cancer types are now considered chronic, lifelong conditions.8
As a long-term partner to the cancer community and to try and help change attitudes towards the disease, Pfizer’s ‘Part of the Story’ campaign aims to shift the cancer narrative. Whether cancer comes at the beginning, middle or end of a person’s life, it is never the whole story and does not need to define it.
In collaboration with people living with cancer, a new chapter has been added to ‘The Return of Sherlock Holmes’ collection of short stories. ‘The Adventure of the Silent Hiss’ sees the famous detective navigate a cancer diagnosis while successfully solving another mystery. Narrated by voice actor and cancer survivor, Brett Harman, the new chapter aims to reflect the fact that advances in treatment and detection are helping many people with the disease live better and longer lives.
At Pfizer, we’ve shown we can move with urgency to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives and now, we’re making significant investments to outdo cancer. Our vision is a world where people with cancer live better and longer lives.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the patient advocacy groups we consulted with when developing the campaign and who shared their inspiring stories.