Frequently asked questions

If you join PfizerLink, you will be asked to share some information about yourself and your health. PfizerLink will use the information you share to search for available Pfizer clinical trials that may be right for you. We’ll keep checking over time.

If a study is a potential match for you, we’ll connect you to a study doctor in your area who will let you know next steps. Note that if we’re unable to find a Pfizer clinical trial that you may be eligible for, it’s possible that you will not be contacted.

We’ll also use the information you share to learn about medical conditions and related scientific topics that Pfizer researchers are studying. For example, your information might help us learn about the characteristics of people who have a specific medical condition or take a specific medicine. These learnings may help make future scientific discoveries and medical advances possible.

We’re currently connecting PfizerLink participants to available Pfizer clinical trials being conducted across the United States.

We’re aiming to enroll about 1 million people who represent the diversity of the United States. This includes people with and without medical conditions.

To join PfizerLink, you must be a resident of one of the 50 states of the United States or the District of Columbia. You must also be at least 18 years old in most states (at least 19 in Nebraska or Alabama and at least 21 in Mississippi).

We will contact you if we’ve found a potential match for you based on the specific information you’ve shared. You’ll receive an email with information about the Pfizer clinical trial we’ve found. Then a representative of PfizerLink, called a Navigator, will call you, or you can call us, to answer questions and talk about next steps.

If you’re interested and the study still seems like a potential match, the PfizerLink Navigator will connect you to a study doctor in your area. The doctor’s team will tell you more about the study and see if you’re eligible to enroll.

If we’re unable to find a Pfizer clinical trial that you may be eligible for, it's possible that you will not be contacted.

After a PfizerLink Navigator has connected you, the staff at the study location will take you through the next steps to see if you can join the clinical trial. These steps include:

• Informed consent: The study team will review the details of the specific study with you, including possible risks and benefits, so you will know what to expect.
   

  If you decide to participate, you will be asked to sign an informed consent document that is specific to the study. That will confirm you understand the study and are willing to continue with screening and to take part in the study, if you are eligible.
   

• Screening: You’ll meet with the study doctor and their staff to confirm whether you fit the eligibility criteria and are able to participate. This may include a more detailed review of your medical history and a physical exam. It may also include blood work and additional tests related to your condition.

Participating in the study is always voluntary. The decision to join is personal, and it is yours. You can still take part in PfizerLink, even if you choose not to participate in a Pfizer clinical trial.

Pfizer will use physical, technical, and administrative security measures to protect your personal information. The information that you provide will be kept private and remain confidential.

Pfizer’s privacy and confidentiality practices include the following:

• Only people with roles requiring direct contact with you will have access to information that could directly identify you. All others will only have access to information that is stripped of your name and contact information and replaced with a unique code. This information will be referred to as your “Coded Information.”
   
• Research analyses will be conducted only with Coded Information.
   
• When Pfizer publishes research results or shares results with collaborators, it will only publish or share summary information that does not identify any particular individual.
   
• Obtaining approval of ethical review boards such as the institutional review board for PfizerLink.

Reasonable security safeguards will be used to protect your information, including:

• Limiting access only to people bound by duties of confidentiality and appropriate training;
   
• Taking steps to minimize the risk that you could be re-identified; and
   
• Encrypting your information within the PfizerLink secure electronic platform.

PfizerLink maintains robust data privacy and security systems. All Pfizer employees or third parties engaged by Pfizer to work on PfizerLink follow legal, ethical and regulatory requirements, as well as industry standards and best practices.

Please review our terms and conditions and privacy policy for more details on how your information collected through this website may be used and how it is protected. While the terms and conditions may include statements limiting your rights, if you are harmed under section 5 of the PfizerLink informed consent document as a result of your use of the web portal, you do not waive any of your legal rights as a participant in PfizerLink.

Pfizer will regularly review its privacy and security practices to help ensure the safety of your information.

Because PfizerLink will collect and use information about you for clinical research purposes, we want to make sure you understand what will happen and agree to it.

The informed consent process is meant to help you understand what to expect as a participant in PfizerLink. This includes explaining the possible benefits and risks of joining, and how your rights, safety, and well-being will be protected.

The informed consent document that you would sign on this website, referred to as a web portal in the informed consent document itself, is specifically for joining PfizerLink. Any clinical trial you consider joining will have its own informed consent document and process that is specific to that study.

There is no cost to you for taking part in PfizerLink. PfizerLink will only collect information and will not have any effect on your regular medical care.

There are no payments to you for taking part in PfizerLink.

(To learn about costs or compensation for participating in clinical trials generally, see the FAQ section “About clinical trials.”)

You are free to stop participating in PfizerLink at any time and for any reason without penalty. Your decision will not affect your regular medical care, any benefits to which you are entitled, or your eligibility to participate in a clinical trial or other research studies.

To stop participating in PfizerLink, sign in to this PfizerLink website and visit your profile. There you will see a link to your consent information. You may withdraw your consent by visiting that link and clicking “withdraw consent.” Withdrawing consent will mean you stop participating in PfizerLink.

After you complete the steps for ending your participation, your account will be deactivated, and no new information will be collected about you or from you by PfizerLink. PfizerLink will not contact you about participating in any further research, and there will be no penalty from Pfizer for ending your participation.

Additional information on what will happen to information from your participation can be found in the PfizerLink informed consent document.

If you have not yet joined PfizerLink and have questions about PfizerLink, please email us at [email protected] or call (866) 960-0235. (Monday - Friday, 9 am - 9 pm ET)

If you have already joined PfizerLink and have questions about PfizerLink, please email us at [email protected] or call (866) 960-0233. (Monday - Friday, 9 am - 9 pm ET)

If you have technical support questions, please email us at [email protected] or call (866) 960-0236. (Available 24/7)

The Pfizer clinical trial alumni website previously known as Pfizer Link has been renamed and moved to a new web domain. Please find it by visiting PfizerClinicalTrialAlumni.com.

Clinical trials (or research studies) are a type of medical research in which people volunteer to take part. Clinical trials commonly study how potential medicines and other medical treatments affect the participants.

Every medicine and vaccine that becomes available today is first tested in clinical trials. These trials — and the breakthroughs that result from them — would not be possible without volunteers.

What happens in a clinical trial depends on the ‘protocol.’ A protocol is a detailed plan that explains the purpose of the clinical trial and how it will be run. If you consider joining a clinical trial, these details will be explained to you as part of the informed consent process. They include:

• the length of the clinical trial
• the study medicines, procedures, and tests in the clinical trial
• the schedule of study activities
• information about who can participate
• how side effects will be tracked, managed, and reported
• the rules that must be followed

For more information about how clinical trials work, click “Learn more” to visit PfizerClinicalTrials.com.

Anybody can consider participating in clinical research.

When you join a clinical trial that’s studying a condition you have, you may help us evaluate a potential treatment for that condition.

There are also clinical trials that need volunteers without a specific disease or condition. As a participant, you might contribute to learnings about a potential vaccine, or about a study medicine before it’s given to people with a condition.

Each clinical trial has its own criteria for who may participate. These are called eligibility criteria. Examples of eligibility criteria include a person’s:

• Age and sex
• Type and/or stage of disease
• Overall health
• Personal treatment history

Participation in a clinical trial is always voluntary. The decision to join is personal, and it is yours. (You can still take part in PfizerLink, even if you choose not to participate in a Pfizer clinical trial.)

As part of a clinical trial, your study-related medical care is provided by the study team at the location where you’re participating. This includes the principal investigator (or study doctor) — the healthcare professional who conducts and takes responsibility for the trial at that location — as well as other clinical study team members.

During your clinical trial, you may also continue to see your regular medical doctors for any care that is not related to the study. It is important for you to tell your study team about other conditions you might have, and to let them know which other doctors are caring for you. This helps the study team coordinate your overall care.

If you participate, the clinical trial will provide study-related medical care, and your regular medical doctors will address the other aspects of your health. Your regular medical doctors can also work with the study team to understand the details of the study and any impact it may have on your regular medical care.

All clinical trials have possible risks. The known and unknown risks of participating in a specific study will be explained to you during the informed consent process that happens before you decide whether to participate.

Clinical researchers must follow guidelines and regulatory requirements to help protect the rights, safety, and well-being of clinical trial participants. These include Good Clinical Practice (GCP). GCP is an international ethical and scientific quality standard for designing and conducting clinical trials.

There are also many entities that provide oversight of clinical trials. These include the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, institutional review boards and independent ethics committees, and data and safety monitoring boards.

For more information about protections for clinical trial participants, click “Learn more” to visit PfizerClinicalTrials.com.

Pfizer generally covers the cost of the study medicines and procedures that are part of our clinical trials.

Pfizer is also committed to reimbursing participants for reasonable clinical trial-related expenses such as transportation, parking, and meals.

Because each study is different, we encourage you to ask the study team any questions you have. You can also refer to the informed consent document for the details about any costs for study participants and study-related reimbursement.

The answer to this question depends on the specific clinical trial. Pfizer offers reasonable compensation for the time and effort of participating in our clinical trials.

In certain studies, reasonable compensation may be provided to parents, guardians, or caregivers.

You can refer to the informed consent document for the details about compensation for participation in a specific study.