Patients in Senegal, Ghana and Kenya to Benefit From New Partnership With
            Leading International and Local Health Organizations

    NEW YORK, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As part of a collaborative
effort to address global health issues, Pfizer announced a $15 million
commitment that will help close critical treatment gaps in malaria for
patients in Senegal, Ghana and Kenya. Through the Clinton Global Initiative
(CGI), Pfizer will partner with governments, leading local and
international organizations like UNICEF, the World Health Organization and
the President's Malaria Initiative (USAID), and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to help develop and strengthen programs for the
effective treatment and management of malaria.
    Malaria is Africa's leading cause of child mortality with one out of
every five children dying as a result of the disease. While effective new
anti- malarial medicines have become available, critical obstacles remain
in ridding affected regions of this fatal, yet curable, disease.
    "The malaria pandemic in Africa, responsible for 10 percent of the
continent's overall disease burden, is a heartbreaking and frustrating
challenge," said Dr. Joseph Feczko, Pfizer's Chief Medical Officer. "Unless
patient education and the capacity for care is rapidly improved, new anti-
malarials will achieve only incremental health impact," concluded Feczko.
    Through the five year malaria initiative, the company will provide
grants and Pfizer Global Health Fellow (GHF) expertise to support programs
that improve patients' understanding of appropriate treatment and patient
care, especially in the non-traditional informal health sector where
sub-optimal diagnosis and treatment is offered.
    "We commend President Clinton for his leadership and partnership with
global business leaders in improving the quality of life for people
throughout the developing world," said Robert L. Mallett, senior vice
president, Global Stakeholder Alliances, Philanthropy & Corporate
Citizenship. "We are pleased to announce this initiative as part of our
continued commitment to partner in the fight to address neglected
diseases," Mallett added.
    With several decades of experience working with stakeholders on the
African continent, Pfizer will support efforts to engage health care
providers to improve the effective management of malaria and educate
patients to make better health choices. Through the malaria initiative,
Pfizer is targeting partnerships in these regions to increase the number of
caretakers seeking appropriate treatment for feverish children and increase
the number of children taking anti-malarial medications.
    Malaria experts in Senegal, Ghana and Kenya, indicate that the greatest
barrier to care is that patients and caretakers do not seek and complete
proper treatment regimens. Rather than taking the right course of
treatment, many patients rely on traditional medicines and herbs, take an
unfinished course from their last bout of malaria, or take aspirin or other
painkillers to ward off the symptoms.
    When patients do seek treatment, the majority do not visit the
traditional public sector health centers where new medicines are
distributed because of long lines and less convenient locations. Instead,
patients choose to visit non-traditional informal health outlets closer to
their homes where basic medicines are sold but where no medical staff is
available to make a proper clinical diagnosis.
    Malaria is an infectious disease that consumes the red blood cells of
its host, leading to fever, anemia, and in severe cases, a coma potentially
leading to death. Malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than $12
billion each year in lost gross domestic product (GDP).
    Pfizer also has a research program focused on malaria. Scientists are
developing a potential treatment based on its widely used antibiotic
Zithromax. Dosed in combination with chloroquine, Zithromax has
demonstrated promising results against malaria in a pilot study. Clinical
studies are underway at 19 study centers in 10 countries in South America,
Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and Africa. Leading international
researchers are conducting these trials under the guidance of each
country's Ministry of Health and Ethics Committee.
    Other Pfizer initiatives:
    Global Health Fellows -- The program sends Pfizer colleagues on
assignments to work with non-governmental and multi-lateral organizations
addressing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria.
    * Since 2003, more than 100 Fellows have been selected to work with 23
      non-governmental organizations in 29 countries to deliver healthcare and
      health system support to those in need around the world.
    Infectious Diseases Institute -- Pfizer partners with the Academic
Alliance Foundation, Makerere University, Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation,
the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and other organizations to
support training and treatment activities of the Infectious Diseases
Institute (IDI) in Kampala, Uganda. This regional training and treatment
center is empowering the local healthcare providers to care for a
population desperately in need of HIV/AIDS treatment and to train others.
    * Since 2004, the IDI has trained more than 1,000 healthcare providers
      from 22 African countries.

    * The center has delivered care to more than 19,000 patients so far.

    * IDI is also partnering with Exxon Mobil to expand training programs to
      include the latest advances in malaria diagnosis, treatment and patient
      care.
    Diflucan Partnership Program -- Diflucan(R) (fluconazole), an
antifungal that treats two fungal opportunistic infections associated with
AIDS, is provided free of charge to governmental and non-governmental
organizations in developing countries.
    * The program has donated approximately $375 million in medicine to
      organizations who treat HIV positive patients with life-threatening
      fungal infections.  The program is active in 47 countries hardest hit by
      HIV/AIDS.

    * Since 2000, the Diflucan Partnership Program supported the training of
      20,000 health professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of fungal
      opportunistic infections.
    International Trachoma Initiative -- A public-private partnership
dedicated to eliminating trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable
blindness, through health worker training, patient education and donations
of the antibiotic, Zithromax(R) (azithromycin).
    * The ITI has given 37 million treatments of Zithromax(R) (azithromycin)
      to trachoma patients in 12 countries as part of the WHO SAFE strategy
      that combines prevention and treatment. Since 1998 the program has
      supported the training of thousands of health workers around the world
      who, in turn, have completed more than 220,000 surgeries to treat
      advanced cases of trachoma.

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CONTACT:
Imraan Munshi for Pfizer Inc, +1-212-733-6197

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