Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022
Did Pfizer’s CEO say the company’s COVID-19 pill will contain a microchip that transmits information?
An online article making the claim uses a clip of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaking in 2018 — well before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Pfizer spokesperson told Lead Stories that the claim is false.
Speaking at a forum at the 2018 World Economic Forum, Bourla was discussing ingestible technology unrelated to the yet-undeveloped Paxlovid, Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment pill. Ingestible technology, also known as a "smart pill," allows patients and health care providers to track health conditions.
Bourla talked about a "smart pill" approved by the FDA in 2017 that can track when the patient took the drug. Bourla brought up the drug to acknowledge advances in the relationship between technology and patient engagement.
The emergency use authorization issued by the FDA for Pfizer's Paxlovid does not mention a microchip.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- World Economic Forum Transforming Health in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
- Food and Drug Administration Paxlovid: FDA Authorizes First Oral Antiviral for Treatment of COVID-19
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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