Pfizer provides research grant to UERMMC diabetes institute

"After years and years of study, if you ask me what diabetes is, I will tell you, ‘I do not know!’"

Although only jokingly said, this statement of Dr. Ricardo Fernando, founder of the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center’s Institute for Studies on Diabetes Foundation Inc. (ISDFI), is nonetheless an adequate perception of the ever-changing standards used to diagnose, manage and prevent one of the most debilitating diseases in the country today – diabetes.

With this in mind, Pfizer Inc. has awarded a research grant to develop the ISDFI research center. Housed in Marikina City, it will be used for continuing studies that will provide Filipinos with the most up-to-date information on diabetes.

"The shifting benchmark for diagnosing and managing diabetes has brought about the need for continuous research on the disease," Fernando said.

"Such information is needed to keep the country informed of the ways to avoid or, at the very least, manage the disease that continues to inimically affect the lives of many Filipinos, especially in the past 20 years," he added.

Aside from the P1-million grant, Pfizer will also provide computers and other equipment for the research center’s Pfizer Cyber Café, which will be used to access up-to-the-minute research and development on diabetes.

"Pfizer is honored to contribute to continuing research on diabetes," said Gerry Bacarro, president and country manager of Pfizer Philippines. "We recognize the need to know more about this complex disease, to which millions of Filipinos succumb."

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by an increase in blood sugar levels associated with long-term damage and failure of organ functions, especially the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart and blood vessels.