Product integrity for patient safety: a Pfizer case study

Counterfeit medicines, and efforts to combat them, have been a reality for many years. This chapter discusses how one major pharmaceutical manufacturer, Pfizer, addressed the problem through application of the total business solution to brand protection. Pfizer's product integrity function is based primarily within the Pfizer Global Security team, which works across the enterprise and its functions and regions to protect patients from counterfeit medicine. Pfizer has sought to reduce demand through education of the public, advocacy with policymakers, and training of law enforcement officials and healthcare professionals. It has sought to reduce supply through proactive enforcement, made possible by a data-driven risk mitigation strategy, including self-assessment and visualization of risk priorities through dashboards and metrics. The outcomes-focused initiative helped stimulate new thinking on how to address counterfeits, required working with other functions across the enterprise, and demonstrated the value of brand protection efforts.