Pfizer Quiz: Discover the Pharma Titan’s Legacy

Pfizer was founded in 1849 in Brooklyn, New York, by two young German immigrant cousins who pooled their savings and complementary skills. One trained as a chemist, the other as a confectioner - a pairing that directly shaped the character of their very first pharmaceutical product.

Pfizer's very first product addressed a widespread 19th-century problem - intestinal worm infections. The main challenge was the active medicine's intensely bitter, unpalatable taste. Pfizer solved this creatively by disguising the drug inside a sweet, flavoured candy-cone shaped form.

In 1950, Pfizer launched its first product sold directly under its own brand name, supported by a dedicated medical sales force. The drug belonged to the broad-spectrum tetracycline antibiotic class and was discovered from a soil-derived microorganism found in the United States.

Pfizer's 8 billion acquisition of Wyeth in 2009 was among the largest deals in pharmaceutical history. One of the most valuable assets acquired was a market-leading pneumococcal conjugate vaccine protecting against multiple bacterial strains responsible for pneumonia and meningitis.

Pfizer collaborated with a German biotechnology firm to develop a COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA technology. Rather than using a live virus, the vaccine delivers genetic instructions that train the immune system to recognise and defend against the dangerous SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.