What It Does: Pfizer is involved in the development and manufacturing of medications for several fields of medicine, including endocrinology, neurology, immunology, cardiology, and oncology.
Mission: Pfizer’s mission is to become a company of value to its patients, colleagues, partners, investors, and the community it serves and lives in.
Size and Presence: Pfizer’s workforce comprises several hundred employees across its labs and plants in Singapore.
Best Known For: Pfizer is best known as one of the developers of the Covid-19 vaccine. This company is also known as the company that developed and manufactured Viagra.
The Good Bits: Pfizer provides a conducive working environment for its employees to function and thrive in. This company provides generous employee benefits and incentives for its employees. Pfizer is a great place to build a rewarding career in the pharmaceutical industry,
The Not-So-Good Bits: The work is hectic. The pay is not competitive enough.
The origins of this renowned pharmaceutical outfit go back to the 19th century. Pfizer came into existence in 1848; it was co-founded by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, two German immigrants. The company was established the year after they migrated from Germany to the US. The company’s base of operations was New York, where it began developing chemical compounds. One of these compounds is an antiparasitic agent known as Santonin which attracted huge commercial success in the market. Then, in the 1980s, Pfizer produced citric acid. This attracted even greater commercial success and made the company prominent in the pharmaceutical industry.
Pfizer also developed another compound, Penicillin, during the World War II era to treat battle injuries. In 1989, Pfizer developed Viagra, which is one of the most popular drugs in the world. Though the company developed this medication to treat high blood pressure and angina, it was reported to have sexually stimulating effects in men as it enhanced the frequency of erections even several days after its administration. In 2000, Pfizer bought Warner-Lambert. In 2003, the company merged with Pharmacia, acquiring SUGEN and Searle in the process. In 2006, it acquired PowerMed. In 2014, Pfizer purchased Innopharma. A couple of years later, it acquired Anacor Pharmaceuticals.
In 2019, Pfizer entered the rare disease treatment market by acquiring Therachon. In 2021, the company announced that it would change its logo. It made several acquisitions between 2021 and 2023, with the latest purchase being Seagen.
Pfizer is an exciting workplace, and its working culture is a significant reason for that. The company's guiding values include excellence, courage, equity, and joy. The “courage” value entails the company’s dedication to the dogged pursuit and discovery of medical breakthroughs that will improve the quality of lives on Earth. The “excellence” value talks about its adherence to the highest standards of operations and the quality of its service. The “equity" value entails an inclusive atmosphere in the company. Pfizer is a hub of diversity, and it welcomes new graduates and interns regardless of their nationality, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status, perceptions, and socioeconomic background.
Pfizer is the perfect place for early career starters to launch, nurture, and build their careers in whatever discipline they want to specialise in. The company offers several career development programs. Its breakthrough fellowship program, for instance, is a 9-year program that combines internship, a full-time job role, and a full academic scholarship to enrol in an MS, MBA, or MPH program. Medical and pharmacy students' programs have short-term (4-12 weeks) and long-term durations (1-2 years). Pfizer offers this program to both undergraduate and graduate students. Pfizer also has R&D rotational programs, a summer associate program, a digital rotation program, and an MBA program.
Pfizer’s hiring process entails the review of online applications, a preliminary screening, and a panel or one-on-one interview to round up. Successful candidates will be offered the job role and onboarded.
A fresh gradiuate or entry-level employee working at Pfizer will earn an annual average salary of SGD 40,000.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Pfizer partnered with BioNTech to supply vaccines to Singapore.
In 2013, Pfizer became the subject of controversy when it decided to close up its R&D site at Raffles Hospital in Singapore, laying off about 30 jobs in the process.