Pfizer Joins The Human Vaccines Project To Help Decode The Immune System

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) today announced it will join the Human Vaccines
Project (the Project), a public-private consortium focused on
cross-sector collaboration to identify human immune responses associated
with optimal vaccine protection. Insights gained will guide the
development of potentially improved vaccines against diseases such as
influenza, dengue, HIV and other infectious illnesses as well as cancer.

“Over the last decade, we’ve seen unprecedented technological advances
in our understanding of the biology of diseases, and new tools in
designing vaccines including therapeutic vaccines. Yet, the translation
from preclinical to clinical vaccine research has often been hampered by
a lack of understanding of the desired human immune responses required
to obtain optimal vaccine protection,” said Kathrin U. Jansen, Ph.D.,
senior vice president and head of Vaccines Research & Development at
Pfizer. “With our strong heritage of translating scientific findings
into the development of medicines and vaccines, Pfizer is proud to
contribute to the consortium’s research efforts.”

One of the key challenges in vaccine development is the lack of
understanding of the rules of effective immunity, and how to generate
such responses through vaccines and immunotherapies in key global
populations. Applying the latest in biomedical technologies, the
consortium will have the potential to identify the fundamentals of
immunological protection which could lead to the development of new and
improved vaccines, immunotherapies, and diagnostics. Led by the Human
Vaccines Project, the partners will help shape the Project’s research
agenda which will be carried out by a global network of leading
universities, with strong linkages to biopharmaceutical companies such
as Pfizer capable of rapidly translating research breakthroughs into
potential new products.

“We look forward to Pfizer’s contribution to the Human Vaccines Project
as we launch an unprecedented public-private partnership in human
immunology discovery, to decipher the human immunome and principles of
protective immunity, to usher in a new era in global disease
prevention,” said Wayne C. Koff, Ph.D., founder of the Human Vaccines
Project. “The human immune system holds the key to preventing and
controlling a broad spectrum of infectious diseases, cancers, autoimmune
diseases and allergies. By bringing together leading vaccine
researchers, institutions and biopharmaceutical companies, and
harnessing recent technological advances in molecular and cellular
biology and bioinformatics, the Project may potentially enable
accelerated development of vaccines and immunotherapies for some of the
most devastating diseases of our time.”

About the Human Vaccines Project

The Human Vaccines Project is a non-profit public-private partnership
with the mission to accelerate the development of vaccines and
immunotherapies against major infectious diseases and cancers by
decoding the human immune system. The Project, incubated initially at
the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has a growing list of
partners and financial supporters including: the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, Pfizer, Regeneron, GSK, Aeras, MedImmune, Sanofi Pasteur,
Crucell/Janssen, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Project brings together
leading academic research centers, industrial partners, nonprofits and
governments to address the primary scientific barriers to developing new
vaccines and immunotherapies, and has been endorsed by 35 of the world’s
leading vaccine scientists.

Pfizer Inc.: Working together for a healthier world™

At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies
to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive
to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery,
development and manufacture of healthcare products. Our global portfolio
includes medicines and vaccines as well as many of the world’s
best-known consumer healthcare products. Every day, Pfizer colleagues
work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness,
prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases
of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world’s
premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with
health care providers, governments and local communities to support and
expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For
more than 150 years, Pfizer has worked to make a difference for all who
rely on us. For more information, please visit us at www.pfizer.com.
In addition, to learn more, follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer
and @Pfizer_News,
LinkedIn,
YouTube,
and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer.

Pfizer Disclosure Notice

The information contained in this release is as of March 22, 2016.
Pfizer assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements
contained in this release as the result of new information or future
events or developments.

This release contains forward-looking information about the Human
Vaccines Project and Pfizer’s role therein, including their potential
benefits, that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied by such statements. Risks and uncertainties include, among other
things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development; whether
the Human Vaccines Project will be successful and whether the
anticipated benefits thereof will be realized in the anticipated
timeframe or at all; whether or when any potential new product
candidates or technologies will result from Pfizer’s participation in
the Human Vaccines Project; and competitive developments.

A further description of risks and uncertainties can be found in
Pfizer’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December
31, 2015 and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the
sections thereof captioned “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking
Information and Factors That May Affect Future Results”, as well as in
its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov and www.pfizer.com.

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