Pfizer reached an estimated 1.4 billion patients with their medicines and vaccines in 2021. They produced 3 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, and expect to make up to 4 billion doses in 2022.
Those are just some of the facts that Raja Mangipudy, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Drug Safety Research and Development (DSRD), Head of Comparative Medicine and Groton Site Head, shared at a Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut business breakfast. It was his first external speaking engagement since taking on his new position earlier this year.
At the Wednesday morning event at the Mystic Marriott in Groton, Mangipudy also said that Pfizer has pledged 2 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to low-and middle-income countries.
Not only that, but Pfizer has an enormous impact on other diseases and illnesses, he noted. They have an industry-leading portfolio of 124 approved innovative cancer medicines across more than 30 types of cancer, and they expect up to 14 potential approvals by 2025 or 2026 across their oncology portfolio.
They are also working on a new Lyme Disease vaccine that is in clinical development, he said.
And now that mRNA is a reality, Pfizer believes it could help prevent or treat other diseases, like the flu, Mangipudy said.
Mangipudy said that Groton is Pfizer’s largest R&D site and is home to a wide range of advanced technology platforms that touch nearly every medicine in Pfizer’s pipeline.
“Every new drug that Pfizer works on has to make its way through Groton, and our site has touched every molecule in the portfolio,” Mangipudy said.
At Pfizer, Mangipudy is responsible for all aspects of non-clinical safety for small molecules, large molecules, vaccines and animal care and welfare across all therapeutic areas and sites. He is also responsible for all activities at the Groton site. He earned his Ph.D. at Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana Monroe) and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. Prior to BMS, Raja held positions at Merck, Sanofi, Pharmacia, Upjohn and, for a brief time, served as part of the Pfizer sales force in India.
Mangipudy replaced John Burkhardt, who recently retired. Burkhardt will be honored by the Chamber as its Citizen of the Year on May 6 at Mohegan Sun. Click here for tickets to that event.
At the Chamber’s breakfast meeting, Mangipudy also noted that through Pfizer’s vaccination efforts 1 million deaths were prevented, as of December 2021, due to COVID vaccination among vaccinated people. He added that more than 10 million hospitalizations have been prevented by COVID-19 vaccination among those who are vaccinated.
He did say, however, that there is still much more work to do, as the virus is a “formidable foe.” Mangipudy noted that for one, the virus is everywhere. Also, it mutates and animals carry it and can transfer it to people. In addition, he said that natural infection is not a panacea.