Rebranded Pfizer Logo Highlights Mission to Cure and Prevent Disease

Albert Bourla_Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

Pfizer is giving itself a corporate facelift, dropping its traditional blue-pill company logo in favor of a double helix DNA spiral that reflects the advances in medical science that have placed the curing of multiple diseases within reach.

“We’re unlocking the pill to reveal the DNA at the heart of Pfizer,” the company said. Pfizer further added that the change in the company’s emblem reflects its purpose and dedication to harnessing the capabilities of science.

For much of its 171-year history, Pfizer said it was in the business of treating diseases, developing therapies that addressed symptoms and mitigated a worsening of disease. But, that’s now changed due to the capabilities of modern sciences. In an announcement on its website, Pfizer said we are now in a time of “extraordinary focus on science and dedication to patients.” As such, the company is “no longer in the business of just treating diseases – we’re curing and preventing them,” Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said on the company’s website.

Dropping the pill logo in favor of DNA prompts a number of cheeky jokes about one of the company’s most popular drugs – Viagra. But, the logo change comes on the heels of the formation of Viatris, which is now the owner of Viagra. Viatris was formed by the merger of Pfizer’s Upjohn business unit with Mylan. Viatris launched with numerous well-known products in its arsenal, including the Epi-Pen, Viagra, Lipitor, Celebrex and others. 

In a note to employees, Bourla said the rebranding is representative of the company’s shift from being a diversified business to a biopharma business focused on breakthrough science,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Over the course of its corporate history, Pfizer said it has become more than just a pharmaceutical company and the new logo is representative of its outlook. A video shared across the company’s social media platforms highlights some of the advancements in science made by the company, as well as the shifting corporate logo over the decades Pfizer has been in operation.

“Our new logo signals this shift from commerce to science. We’ve unlocked the pill form to reveal the core of what we do: a double helix, spiraling upward. The logo is constructed of two interlocking forms. Their unity reflects our passion and dedication to the science behind our innovations, and to the wellbeing of our patients,” Pfizer said on its website. “This is our new identity, an emblem of our purpose: Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives.”

Sally Sussman, Pfizer’s chief corporate affairs officer, said the new corporate identity reflects the company’s long history, but also captures the “innovative spirit and science focus alive in the country today.”

Pfizer’s rebranding was unveiled weeks after the company began to receive authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine it developed alongside Germany-based BioNTech. Although the vaccine requires storage in an ultra-low temperature freezer, the 95% efficacy of the preventative treatment certainly earned the company a significant amount of goodwill from the general populace.

While it was only recently unveiled, the Journal reported it has been in the works for more than a year. Pfizer paused the rebranding in the spring as the company shifted its focus to the COVID-19 pandemic. Attention was returned to the rebranding about the time the vaccine was completing Phase III studies. Sussman told the Journal the mRNA vaccine, a wholly new kind of vaccine to receive regulatory authorization, was reflective of the company’s shifting attitude.  

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