Throughout history, humans have coalesced around moonshot culture to achieve audacious goals—from eradicating smallpox, to sequencing the human genome, to landing a spacecraft on Mars. These feats of human ingenuity didn’t happen in a vacuum, they were born from intentional innovation, a “coalition of the willing,” and a vision to outdo yesterday. This fireside chat with Drew Panayiotou, CMO of Pfizer and Devon Still, ex-NFL player and founder of Still Strong Foundation, explores innovations in cancer, their personal experiences with family members needing healthcare treatment, and what it will take to achieve Pfizer's next big moonshot to outdo cancer and achieve its vision, a world where people with cancer live better and longer lives.
Throughout history, humans have coalesced around moonshot culture to achieve audacious goals—from eradicating smallpox, to sequencing the human genome, to landing a spacecraft on Mars. These feats of human ingenuity didn’t happen in a vacuum, they were born from intentional innovation, a “coalition of the willing,” and a vision to outdo yesterday. This fireside chat with Drew Panayiotou, CMO of Pfizer and Devon Still, ex-NFL player and founder of Still Strong Foundation, explores innovations in cancer, their personal experiences with family members needing healthcare treatment, and what it will take to achieve Pfizer's next big moonshot to outdo cancer and achieve its vision, a world where people with cancer live better and longer lives.
This episode was recorded live in Austin, TX on Monday March 11 as part of Pfizer’s takeover of the South by Southwest podcasting lounge.
The Let's Outdo Cancer Campaign aims to focus on advances in fighting against cancer. To learn more, visit letsoutdocancer.com.
Live from SXSW - Moonshot Culture: Innovating to Outdo Yesterday
Bonus Episode
Narrator
With a history of bringing life-changing medicines to the world, Pfizer is turning more of its focus toward fighting cancer. Today, approximately 40% of Pfizer's research and development investment is focused on advancing innovative cancer therapies. On this special episode of Science Will Win, we're sharing one of a series of conversations recorded live at the Pfizer podcasting Lounge at South by Southwest. Cancer treatment has come a long way thanks to technology, former NFL Player and founder of the Still Strong Foundation, Devon still sat down with the CMO of Pfizer, drew Panto to talk about innovations in cancer, their personal experiences with family members needing healthcare treatment, and what it will take to achieve Pfizer's next big moonshot to outdo cancer and achieve its vision, a world where people with cancer live better and longer lives. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Devon
Thank you all for joining us. Today is gonna be a pretty exciting conversation between me and Drew. But Drew, I know I'm excited to connect with you in person, um, finally after connecting with you virtually. But before we jump into your job as a C-Suite executive at Pfizer, I wanna talk about a more important job. And that's you being a father. You're a father of a 10-year-old son, right?
Drew
I am a father of a 10-year-old son, and, um, it is like the most rewarding thing in the world. And I wanna say thank you for having me. I was briefly sharing this with Devon and I may get in trouble. Last night I took a picture with Tom Brady.
Devon: Oh wow.
Drew: And I have to say, I'd be more scared of getting tackled by Devon than Tom Brady. So
Devon
I, I actually have one hit on Tom Brady . I, I had a hit on him, um, my last year in the NFL and this is when my daughter was going through cancer. We played the Patriots up there at the Patriot Stadium and they did something really interesting and, uh, very heartfelt. When my daughter was going through cancer on the sidelines, all the cheerleaders took off their jacket and they were wearing my jersey to bring awareness for what my daughter was going through and with all the other kids who are battling cancer was going through. So I have a very close connection with the Patriots and like I said, I had a hit on Tom Brady. It wasn't a sack , but I got a hit. So I cherish that. Well,
Drew
I'm, I'm way more, uh, you know, connected to you and your story than Tom, but honestly, you asked about being a dad. Yeah. And when I heard your story, it came to me when we were putting together this platform called Let's Out Do Cancer. And as a dad, I'm like, wow, it hits you really hard because your life becomes about your kids. Yeah. And so I could only imagine you just love on these little human beings that are in your life and they become, uh, everything. Yeah.
Devon
It's funny you say that because when I first became a parent, I heard a saying that really resonated with me, where they, they said having kids is like having your heart walk outside your body and, and never expecting it to get hurt. And never in my wildest dreams that I think that, you know, my daughter was gonna be diagnosed with cancer because, uh, I'm sure as you know, as many parents in here know, the first time you hold your child in your arms, it's like you make that oath to them that you're going to do everything you can to protect them and to provide them with the best life possible. But I wasn't able to protect Leah from her diagnosis with cancer, which was tough for me to really deal with as a dad. So I had to face one of my greatest fears at a young age with my daughter being diagnosed with cancer. For you, what, what is one of your greatest fears? Being a dad and having a son?
Drew
It is exactly that. The minute you walk into a hospital with your kid when they have to go through a test and I've had that, that becomes your greatest fear because as much as you are an executive at Pfizer or like an NFL football player, you become powerless. Right? It's like it doesn't matter who you know, your body and human nature and your health can't be controlled. And so I always say that my biggest fear is like you want your kids to just be healthy. And all of us as parents go through that moment where a doctor wants to run a test. And doesn't matter what meeting you're missing on your iPhone or who you work for, you're just sitting there and you're counting the seconds on a test. And actually, this happened to me two months ago. We live in Denver, Colorado, and our son had this weird skin issue and the doctor's like, Hey, I just wanna run these tests just as a precaution.
Drew
And when they say that, you're like, okay. And literally he called Friday night that day and he said, Hey, I just wanna let you know everything is good. But you just kind of go through that whole cycle of fear and worry because like a precaution of, you know, making sure he doesn't have something and it just grounds you into reality like everything else feels like is noise. And then you get really focused on that moment and will they be better? Will they get the test result that is positive? And actually I'd love to ask you about that because clearly when you went through everything with your daughter, I mean, what was it like when you had those moments of the test and waiting for an exam or a result? What was that like for you?
Devon
Yeah, it was the scariest thing I ever been through in my life. Just to share a little bit about our story in that day, I had put Leah into gymnastics and dance recital dance class during my off season with the Bengals. And the day that she got diagnosed was actually the day of her recital. So our family was extremely excited. I asked my head coach Marvin Lewis at the time, if I could leave off season training to go back home to support her. Because when I was a kid, I think one of the things that motivated me to go to the NFL is every game that I had, I could look in the stands and I would see my parents cheering me on. Right. And that's one of the reasons why I decided to go to Penn State because I wanted them to be able to still see me play at the college level.
So I knew how important that was to me. So I wanted to make sure that I was in the stands when my daughter was going through her dance recital. So I flew back home and she went out to breakfast with her grandmother. She loves pancakes, they went to ihop, we wanted to make sure she started off the day right. But when she was there, she was very lethargic. She wasn't eating her favorite pancakes. And her grandmother gave me a call and I just happened to be at a red light right across the street from the restaurant. She said, Hey Devon, Leah's not eating. I don't think there's anything serious, but I just think you should book her an appointment to see her pediatrician to find out what's going on. I told her, okay. I hung up the phone and I was going to continue to drive home and book her appointment. But something told me to make a U-turn and just go check on her at the restaurant. When I walked in, her head was down on the table, she didn't have an ener energy if you followed me for a long time, my daughter has high levels of energy. Right. She's extremely fun to be around.
Drew
That doesn't surprise me. Yeah,
Devon
Exactly. But it wasn't her when I walked in there. So I took her to a urgent care thinking that she just had an ear infection, that it was something small and that it was gonna give her her medicine so that she can get ready to participate in her dance recital. But they ran a few tests on her. The doctor sent us to another children's hospital down the street. They ran more tests on her and they came into the room and told us that they thought it can be a number of things. They actually listed 10 things and the last thing that they said was cancer. And because they said it last, I didn't take it serious. I'm like, there's no way my daughter has cancer. She's been fine this whole time. They gave her an ultrasound of her abdomen and they found a tumor in her stomach.
And then they took her up stairs to do a CAT scan and an MRI. And I've been playing football since I was 13. I've had a lot of injuries. I know how long a CAT scan and an MRI takes, and we were hitting about the two hour mark at this time. So I looked over and I told Leah's mom, I think that they're gonna walk out and say that she has cancer. But there was something in me that made me feel that way. Sure enough, 30 minutes later the doctor came out, her lips was quivering as she went to speak to me. And she said that we believe your daughter has stage four neuroblastoma and she has a 50% chance of surviving. My heart just dropped to the floor because I went from living out my childhood dream of being an NFL player to now facing my worst fear. And I was not being able to watch my daughter grow up. So it was one of the hardest things I ever had to endure.
Drew
I can feel. Yeah, like every minute you feels like you,
Devon
Yeah.
Drew
You lived it many a time. Yeah,
Devon
I, I was lost, to be honest with you, really quick story. After that moment where she told me that she had cancer, she then proceeded to say that she was gonna go to the waiting room to tell the rest of our family the news. And at first when she told me I, I don't know where my head went, it was like I had an out-of-body experience. But when she said, I'm gonna go tell your family, it's like I came back to reality and I stopped her and I said, no, if my family's going to hear something like this, they needed to hear from somebody that loves and cares about them. So I told 'em that I was going to go tell them. And as I was walking down the hallway, it seemed like it was about the length of this entire venue, but really it was just from here to that door.
When I walked into the room and I went to open up my mouth and say they just found cancer in Leah's body. I dropped to the floor. Like the words couldn't come out my mouth because I felt like the moment I said it, it would become my reality. And I fell to the floor and I just started crying. And my dad ran over to me and he started rubbing my back. And he is like, son, tell me what's wrong, what happened? And I just blurted out Leah has cancer. And I remember her grandma just running out of the room. She dropped a purse and I just sat there crying and I didn't know how I was going to get up, but I realized that although this hurt me, I wasn't the one that was actually gonna have to endure the pain that came from treatment. So I found the strength to get up and fight for Leah. And then here we are today where she's gonna be turning nine years cancer free this month. But, but you know what it's like to be a caretaker because it actually inspires you to do the work that you did. Now can you share with the audience a little bit about what inspired you to be in the pharma industry?
Drew
Yeah. I'm actually still choked up over your story. We chatted before here, but he didn't tell me that exact moment. It's really powerful. You know, and it's funny, the power of stories and storytelling. You and I were talking about that I'm a CMO, so I tell a lot of stories, but you asked me about what made me come into healthcare. And I actually at a, I went to graduate school and when I left and graduated Duke, I wanted to change healthcare. And that's because I grew up as an immigrant kid, right? Dad worked six days a week. My parents didn't speak English, uh, all that well. And I grew up with a mother that had mental illness. And it's interesting 'cause the moment that sticks in my head, similar to your moment is we would always try to get my mom treatment. And as a son, a Greek son, you have a, a close connection to your mother.
And when, when her brain was functioning, she was awesome. And when her brain wasn't functioning, it was really hard. And immigrant families, like, because English is a second language as a kid, you're always navigating the healthcare system. And I remember we were in New York City and the doctors couldn't give my mom a treatment. 'cause they said she's not mentally able to make the decision. If you want this treatment to get your mom better, you're gonna have to go to court to, to make that happen. And I remember being with my older sister, Desi, who's awesome. We went to a New York City court to kind of fight the hospital to get her the treatment. The doctor's like, I want you to get this treatment, but I am not allowed to 'cause of the legal rules of people giving consent.
I just remember going through that process, sitting in a New York City court fighting for my mother. And I'm like, the healthcare system seems so hard and it needs to change. And so I graduated and went into it to, to change healthcare. And then found out that healthcare wasn't gonna change back then, this was pre iPhone. So we didn't have a lot of the things that I think we have now to make healthcare better. And so I came back to the industry a couple years ago, but that's my story is like, you know, when you feel that pain, you just want people to not have to go through as much pain to get better.
Devon
It's crazy because you were advocating for your mom while you were in high school, which I couldn't imagine having to do something like that, fighting the court for my mom, and I'm just trying to graduate and get my diploma. But as you said, when you graduated, you had these big hopes, these big goals to change the way that the healthcare systems work. But when you got into it, you realized that it wasn't as changeable as you thought it was. Why didn't you allow that to steal your dream and you just stay away from the pharma industry completely?
Drew
Well, it's funny, I say this, it was never my dream to come to Pfizer and be a CMO for a fourth time. It gets to be a point where you have a platform being a successful NFL player and part of a sport that a lot of people love and admire. I have a platform just because, you know, being outta Coke or a Disney and been a CMO and I'm like, how do I use my platform to maybe go into the industry and agitate it in a good way so that we can make a difference? And then it becomes about you using your network, your platform, your connections, the company you work for. I work for a great company that believes in breakthroughs for patients. And I'm like, okay, let's go create some breakthroughs. But the breakthroughs that I work on may not be scientific in my craft. It's creating movements and energy around patients and doctors and people like you so that we hopefully can start like making healthcare work for people.
Devon
I, I know for me, with the changes that I'm trying to make in this world, breakthroughs don't come without frustrations, right? There's a lot of hard times that you deal with where you question whether the work that you're putting in is worth it if you're actually gonna see the outcomes that you're fighting for. You talked earlier about when your mom was going through what she was going through when you were younger. Your social network played a crucial role. How important was your wife in your journey that you're on right now and speaking life into you making sure that you don't give up on your dreams? Because I know that y'all met when you were actually working at Coca-Cola.
Drew
It's funny, we talk about when you go through tough times, you're going through challenges. It's your little network, your family that means so much or your close friends. And uh, I always say this behind every successful individuals is a partner that's supporting them. And that has been so important for me because you need someone in your corner through all the frustrations. And you said this and it's so powerful. With breakthroughs comes a, a path of frustration after frustration. And so how do you find a way to kind of keep that energy and it comes from the ones that you love, like they're the ones who are in your corner. 'cause it's a lonely place, right? I bet it felt when that moment happened in the hospital and you were just describing it, I could imagine how lonely it felt for you.
Devon
It was hard. And if I didn't have the support system that I had, there would be days where I wouldn't have been able to make it through. I think the importance of having a strong support system is you can have moments of weaknesses where you wanna ball up in a corner and just cry and just yell and just be frustrated at the way that your life is going. But then you have people in your corner that will support you to make sure that the mission continues until you're able to get your mind right in order to get back into the ring and continue to fight. And speaking of fighting, I, I think all of us, we watched the big game in February and we had a chance to see the Outdo Cancer commercial and campaign. What made you want to start that initiative at Pfizer? Well,
Drew
It comes actually from our CEO Albert. He is made it pretty clear our our next big fight is cancer. And uh, and I believe this, and Devon, I love that you asked that question because we felt like the right time to talk to everyone involved in healthcare patients, advocacy groups, doctors to start to create a movement around everything we are trying to do and all the help that we need within the ecosystem to make cancer go away. And it's the people that sign up for a clinical trial that provide the information and ability for us to develop drugs. It's the patients and the programs that we have for caregivers and thinking about how do we support caregivers and how do other people support caregivers? What are the tools and the information that we need to provide to people all the way through drug discovery to care provision.
And so we, we felt like the best platform to talk to the world about what our next big fight is and to hopefully create a spark that goes well beyond the game. It's about the conversation that it enabled around you and I to be on the stage. Right? I would not have probably met you if we didn't say, okay, let's start a movement. And then how does it continue and how do people grab it and how do they own it and make it their own. And I wake up some mornings and I'm like, I would love the world to start rallying around this movement. It's a different kind of movement 'cause cancer affects everyone
Devon
As a chief marketing officer, you know, the importance of coming up with slogans and phrases that are unforgettable and I think that less outdo cancer is a great slogan. How are you and other executives at Pfizer ensuring that this is not just a marketing model, but it's a mission statement for Pfizer? And what are some of the milestones that you have over the next couple of years to make sure you are on target to actually outdo cancer?
Drew
It's a great question. We put this, um, this website out there called that south do cancer.com. And we actually ask people to sign up to see our progress. We have, uh, drugs and development, we have trials and we want people to track what we're doing. It also has become this platform that we hope is continuous news around every program or every trial or every development. That's our commitment is to make that the home for everything around outdoing cancer. Actually this week I got a note from Chris Boff who leads our cancer, uh, unit. And uh, he said, him and Albert were talking about how do we make that platform, uh, continue the engagement, continue the drive, continue the focus on it, because that is where we're gonna mark our progress. And so, uh, it's very timely. You asked that question. Yeah.
Devon
You, you talked a little bit earlier that you
Drew
Know, dude, you're really good at this by the way. I try.
Devon
I'm like a lot of practice. Thank you. You talked a little bit earlier about how your dad was a chef and you spent time in the kitchen with him. So you understand the importance of having the right ingredients, the right amount of ingredients. You also talked about creating different ecosystems in order to reach the mission that Pfizer has. Why do you think that patients are such an important ingredient to the ecosystem in order to outdo cancer?
Drew
I say this often. I love patients just like any other category I've been in. They will drive the change. I was saying this yesterday, I love patients to take agency over how healthcare happens to them. And I personally believe they are the center of driving change. All the breakthroughs that will happen in healthcare, how healthcare gets provided. I think a lot of people feel powerless because healthcare decisions and healthcare, the healthcare ecosystem's driven by the government, right? The government is the biggest buyer of healthcare around the world. But I think it's ironic that something that's so personal, your daughter's health, my health, that healthcare, which is the most personal thing, is driven and managed by a government. And I feel like the more that patients and people take agency over healthcare, that they're vocal about what happens to them, that you think about your data, all discovery is driven by data.
And you know, being a CMO, I've seen the power of when people provide their data, what happens. So Facebook and Google and all these companies became large because, you know, advertising created a lot of value. And people were like, okay, I'll give you my data if I get content, if I get something for it. And we talk about like, hey, I'm a Hulu customer. And they sent me a note and said, Hey, you can either watch ads and they track you when you watch an ad, or you could pay 5 99 a month. I'm like, all right, I'll see the ad. And I think in healthcare, when we chatted about this in my last job at Alphabet, you own your healthcare data and the more that you control and direct that healthcare data for either drug discovery or treatment, uh, you should get rewarded for that data.
And so I feel like the more that we take agency as patients, not as an executive, as patients, the power of data is what will change healthcare. And I actually advocate that patients and people start thinking about their information, their treasure and how they wanna direct it. 'cause there was a study, um, done that said the next two generations are very happy to give you their data. If it's used for good, I'll give you my, my chart, my healthcare data. If it would save another girl or another kid or another child of a parent, I'll give you every bit of healthcare data on my phone. And there's a lot of it here 'cause I got a couple conditions. I think that's what I think we need the world to do is saying, okay, how do we start figuring out how to conquer this thing together? But it's gonna start with patients because it's all about the patient.
Devon
You brought up an interesting point about bridging the gap between people in the healthcare system and the mistrust that's there. And when we're talking about breakthroughs that requires clinical trials and clinical trials require people to sign up for this. And I'm a big champion of clinical trials because my daughter's life was saved from a clinical trial. But I can tell you that I was extremely hesitant in the beginning to sign her up for a clinical child because of the mistrust that I had with healthcare systems and big pharma companies. What are you doing and what is Pfizer doing to try to build back up that trust with the community to let people know that you're there to serve them. And it's not just about profits.
Drew
Super question. I mean you're you're coming hard with the questions, dev. I love it. Our CEO and I have to say this, it's something that impressed me. My first couple weeks at Pfizer, I sat in a meeting and uh, on the sheet it said trust is everything. And Albert Boughs, our CEO Sally Susman who's awesome, who's on our el ELT, they believe that's the pinnacle. 'cause anytime. And we saw that during Covid, anytime you're gonna put something in your body that's the ultimate trust. But we know we're part of this thing called big pharma and no one likes big anything. When I was at Google, no one loved big tech. And I think that makes it, um, important to kind of say how do you operate as a company so that you can build trust because you're associated with industries where like that becomes like the question, can I trust you?
And I think that's why it's important that like we have this chat that we are authentic and transparent around what we're doing. Uh, we have to be out there and not be afraid to have conversations because you know this, like if you're married and you have a conversation, that's tough. Sometimes you grow from that conversation. I think that's the only way that we will build trust as an industry is having the tough conversations where we may not have the perfect answers and it's a tough conversation, but that's how we'll grow, trust and build a relationship. I think that same thing is true in a marriage, right? And there are all these parallels because you know, trust is everything. Yeah.
Devon
Speaking about marriage, I know a lot
Drew
Of couples you have something about marriage, you got some I know a little bit. Lemme ask you a question. What's that? I asked it to you this morning 'cause I I was curious and I wanna hear your answer. When you go through a child that has cancer, it is hard on the relationship. And I asked you this morning, you said, so how was it? I almost didn't wanna ask it 'cause I'm like, is he still married to his wife? Are they together? How was it between you and your wife to go through this experience? Yeah,
Devon
We are still married for everybody in the crowd. We're going on eight years married. Yeah, thank you. But it was tough When Leah was going through cancer, we got engaged right after Leah was diagnosed with cancer because I wanted my wife to know that my heart was still with her. I knew that mentally I was not gonna be there because I was just so messed up. But I wanted her to know that my commitment was still there and we decided to wait to get married until Leah was cancer free because we wanted her to walk down the aisle as the flower girl without cancer in her body. But it was tough. One of the things I wish we would've did differently is we would've healed the trauma that came from her diagnosis. We talk a lot about self-disclosure. We didn't really communicate about how that impacted us and how it changed our relationship.
So the first couple of years of our marriage was a struggle. Um, but we sat down and we had those tough conversations where we like, look, we're trying to break generational cycles, we're trying to make it to happily ever after that requires us to look at our past and see where we went wrong and make things right. And the moment that we did that, we were able to overcome those challenges that we were dealing with. Like I said, we're going on eight years, we do everything we can to help other families who are in the same situations navigate through this. Because you do go through a level of grief, even if you don't lose your child, you lose the life that you thought you were gonna have. You lose out on some of the memories that you thought you were going to be able to share with your child.
And so you do go through a level of grief and everybody grieves differently. So when you see your partner, your spouse, not grieving the same way that you're grieving, you think they don't care as much as you care. So we try to help couples really unpack that and find out how they can turn towards each other instead of turning away from each other as their child is battling cancer. But you brought up a point earlier, uh, about marriage and I know a lot of times when people are going through a tough time in their marriage, they're trying to build back up that trust. They go see a marriage counselor for you as you try to build up trust with the community. Are you working with any type of advocacy groups, any type of organizations that can help facilitate that whole thing?
Drew
Yeah, a absolutely. I think, uh, great thing about Pfizer is we have a lot of programs and advocacy partners. We have the American Cancer Society, that's something that we talk about on let's out do cancer.com. We have hundreds of organizations that we work with in and around cancer and advocacy. And one of the ones I'm really proud of is, um, a partnership we have, uh, with our lead ad ad agency Publicis around working with cancer. And one of the things, and something about your story made me think of it this morning because when you get a cancer diagnosis, all of a sudden you think about how do I pay for stuff? How do I keep my job? And it's hard. And so we joined this pledge, uh, called Working with Cancer with I think the top 200 or so companies in the world, maybe 500.
It's grown where the companies make a pledge to provide extra support for their employees that are going through, uh, cancer. And it made me think of what your former employer, the Cincinnati Bengals did. I'd love for people to hear that because I think there's this notion of players in the NFL and like they have all this money and all of a sudden, like you, you, your daughter has cancer and I would love for people to understand what the Bengals did for you and how you approach that and the economic like reality you faced around that.
Devon
In, in 2012, I was the 53rd overall pick in the draft and I signed a $3.46 million contract, but I didn't have $3.46 million in my bank account, right? I was only in my second year of the NFL.
Drew
I'm sure the agent had a little bit of that. They,
Devon
They did taxes, took a, a lot of, bit of that . But when Leah got diagnosed, she was getting treated in Philadelphia and I was playing in Cincinnati so I was traveling back and forth. So when she got diagnosed with cancer, I looked at my family and I said, you know, I love football but I love my daughter more so I'm gonna step away for football for the year to just make sure that I'm here with her and she can see me every day. A couple of minutes later, the doctors came into the room and I started to talk to them about the cost of treatment and they told me it was gonna be around a million dollars. And like I said, I played in the NFL but not everybody in the NFLA millionaires and I didn't have a million dollars in my bank account.
So I knew I was gonna have to make the tough decision that a lot of parents face in this time. And that's whether you stick by your child's side in the hospital or you make the decision to leave their bedside to go out there and work because you still have bills to pay your bills don't stop because your child has cancer. So I decided to go back to play football and I let the team know, like, listen, I'm here physically, but mentally I'm with my daughter. I don't know how I'm gonna be able to go out here and play. And they made the decision to put me on the practice squad so that I can travel back and forth to Philadelphia to be with Lea, but still have the health insurance to pay for a treatment because it's very expensive. As I just said earlier, you talked about how you are making a lot of breakthroughs, but breakthroughs cost a lot of money right there.
There have been estimates that by 2030 that healthcare costs in the United States are going to be around $245 billion. I have a background in business, I understand the importance of profits when it comes to companies. I understand how much money is poured into r and d in order to come up with new treatments in the small window that pharmaceutical companies have to take advantage to produce these treatments before other companies are able to produce the same thing. What do you have in place or what do you plan on doing in the future to make sure that these big costs are not being pushed on to the patients and we have to take care of the costs? 'cause I can tell you from my experience, bankruptcy rates of families who have childhood cancer compared to h similar households without cancer are 260% higher. We lose about 40% of our annual household income due to cancer treatment work-related disruption. And when you have that financial burden on top of the psychological and emotional distress that you're going through as parents, it's hard to navigate these waters when you're dealing with cancer. So what kind of things does Pfizer have in place or what do you plan on putting in place to make sure that these costs are not being put on the patient?
Drew
You're coming hard with the questions, but it's good. I mean these are the questions that I say are tough questions for, for like the industry to answer, right? 'cause everyone's like, drug costs are expensive. They are, we know with cancer and particularly it could be economically a catastrophe for so many people, we have this program called Work Living with app. It's a living with cancer app. You guys should download it if you, if there's someone you know going through cancer. And part of that whole, there's a module on that that is around providing all the information and direction on financial resources to get help, right? The first thing we wanna do is make sure that people have knowledge and information in terms of what support they can get, right? Like you said, developing a drug is an expensive thing. You fail more than you succeed.
And so when you succeed it's like, okay, how do I make your the model work so that the company can keep going forward and develop more drugs? So doing that as efficiently as possible, which for us is like leveraging more and more of the power of data to accelerate drug discovery. And then on the care side providing information and connecting people to resources to help them through their journey and continuing the entire ecosystem around that. That's why I'm like, cancer is not just about a drug, it's not about just a treatment. It's about the entire ecosystem of care that has to be provided and support and the financial part is significant. And the other way we think about that is also making sure we do what we can on detecting cancer and participating in programs that detect it earlier. Because if you can detect it clearly that eliminates a lot of economic burden that can happen on someone.
And then when they have cancer, making sure that we are doing our best with all of our partners, American Cancer Society and all the other groups to kind of make sure people know what they can do. Participating with a pledge like working with cancer. I want every company in the world to provide better benefits to their employees. And I like, I want everyone to participate in working with cancer. This goes back to like where does change come and all these issues, whether it's around payment economics, is our patients and people having a really loud voice. Um, it's funny, as much as the government pays for healthcare, healthcare dollars come from taxpayers. And so we are the ultimate owners of our destiny. If we become vocal and loud, I think of every day I look at issues in the world, and this is why I love when former NFL players or athletes or celebrities get on this mission.
We need to be talking much more about how we change healthcare than any other issues, right? There's a lot of issues in the world and this should be one that always is front and center in the news and in discussions because ultimately we do have to change the economics around it. We do have to change how it happens for every person in the world, whether they're in Africa, whether they're in, uh, south Atlanta. I'm a big Atlanta guy. I used to live there. And we don't think about how healthcare really happens. One of my dear friends is Valerie Montgomery Rice. She's the president at the Morehouse School of Medicine, fabulous medical school. And she talks about keeping it real. She's like, drew, I'm a established famous doctor and run a, an amazing medical school. Valerie and her daughter, by the way, the only mother-daughter graduates of the Harvard Medical School.
And she'll say this to me, she goes, drew, you have to find out ways to make healthcare work at the corner in the neighborhood, in the community. Because it's the reality around do they know what to do? Do they know how to figure out how to pay for stuff? Do they know how to get the right care? You always have to look at it at that lens. You can't sit in an office somewhere in a big building and say like, you're gonna solve the world that way. You gotta get in the, into the community. You gotta have these discussions. You gotta pull celebrity and all of that because that's how you can get attention to an issue. And you gotta put it out there in the forefront and it's gotta be the thing you talk about continuously. Like healthcare won't change if it's a soundbite.
Devon
I I love how you talked about the indivi individual changes that we can make, but you also talked about the systematic and the legislative changes that need to be made. 'cause oftentimes we put the onus on the individual. You talked earlier about this app that deals with the insecurities people face when they're going through health challenges, whether it's themselves or it's a family member, a loved one that's going through it. And it took for this executive to actually go through his own health scare before stopping, uh, before starting it. And while it sounds good to say everybody needs to join in on this fight, most people are not moved to join the fight until they're impacted. And I'm somebody who had, who went through that as well. I went to Penn State. We have something called Thine Penn State, which is one of the biggest fundraisers for childhood cancer.
And while I was at Penn State, I would al always volunteer for th where we would take families who have been diagnosed with childhood cancer around the football building and we would show them the day in the life of a a Penn State football player. But one of the biggest mistakes I made during that time is I never sat down with the families and found out what the day in the life was like of a family who was diagnosed with childhood cancer. And it took for my daughter to be diagnosed to see the importance of stepping up for a cause e even if you're not impacted by it. So right now we have the still strong foundation where we financially assist families with childhood cancer by paying their household bills so that they can focus more on their child rather than coming up with the money to not lose their home. We partner with different organizations to come up with resources like Braven neuroblastoma to help families overcome their challenges with childhood cancer diagnosis. How do you plan on getting people activated who are not directly impacted by cancer?
Drew
It's being great storytellers like you mentioned that earlier, is like you have to shine a light on the stories. Like I asked you a question, I said, with the foundation that you started and providing resources to families, was there one that stood, stood in mind? Could you share a story? Then you told me and love for you to tell the group here the story about someone that you found a way to help them make their car payment. And it dawned on me, you said, yeah, because when you're immunocompromised you don't wanna be in like public transportation. It's like sharing those stories. Could you share that story? Because I think that's what gets people like engaged.
Devon
So right now what our foundation does is we serve different hospitals. We serve Children's Hospital, Philadelphia, St. Christopher's, which is in Philadelphia, AI DuPont and Delaware and Texas Children's Hospital. So we worked with those families who are diagnosed with cancer there. And a couple of years ago I met a family who had to relocate the Houston from Hawaii because that was the only hope that they had for their child when they moved. The dad didn't, couldn't find work right away. So they ended up losing their car, it got repossessed and the social worker reached out to me. I found out about their story. I went to the bank, I talked to the bank, I talked them down and I ended up paying off their entire car. And I drove the car to the hospital and the social worker brought the mom downstairs with all her children.
And when she walked out and she saw her van, she didn't know what was going on. And when I told her that we paid it off and that she didn't have to worry about taking public transportation, because like you said, when you're immunocompromised you can't be on public transportation 'cause your kid can get sick, which end up having a a a huge effect on their, their treatment. She just broke down and started crying and hugging me. And I understood the importance of our foundation. But I understand as a a nonprofit organization, not a very large one, there's only so much we can do. We can put a bandaid over a wound that actually needs surgery. So that's why we need that systematic change. We need to work with companies that can help us make the legislative change in order to really make a difference.
Drew
Yeah. I I think you're, you're exactly right. We have to work change at every level. Government legislative, our partners, you and I talked about it 'cause I'm gonna recruit you in in getting the NFL hopefully Roger Goodell and some other people to join in this fight because you know, I say this, we're a big advertiser. You turn on, you know, NFL games, you'll see Pfizer commercials and I'm like, okay, if we're doing that right, we're paying for commercials on a sport everyone loves. How do we engage the league to help? Because again, if we provide more storytelling, more news, more attention on this fight with cancer, 'cause it's everyone's fight, it's gonna affect everyone. You have to figure out how to work every pillar that can drive change. I, um, uh, talked to you about Arthur Blank. He's the owner of the Atlanta Falcons. He made one of the most massive donations to the children's healthcare of Atlanta, which is the largest hospital system for kids in Atlanta. Most owners are very vested in their local community hospitals. And so enlisting people like that who happen to also have relationships with a lot of people on the political side. And you have to bridge the political, social and cultural pillars and you're gonna help me do that. I'm, I'm serious. That's how we're gonna drive change. Yeah,
Devon
I love that. I love that. Uh, this has been a great conversation so far and I I wanna wrap up asking you this one question. We're not,
Drew
We're not wrapping up. Are we done? Are we outta time
Devon
Well, while I want to ask you this question, it's a bit of a, a curve ball because uhoh you're in a unique position where you have a chance to really change the way that the world looks at pharmaceutical companies, right? And as a father, and I've learned this about myself, that how we carry ourselves when we enter rooms and how we connect with the communities, the values that we show can either open up doors or close doors for our children. And your last name means something. When your son gets older and he walks into rooms and they say to him, man, I know you, your dad is such and such, what do you want that such and such to be? When your son walks into rooms, what do you want them to say about you and the last name that you passed on to your son? Wow,
Drew
That's a deep question. The thing that I'd want is the thing that came to me when we were having, uh, breakfast. You wanna make a positive dent in the universe and to have your name associated with that. That's what I would love. And I, I'd like to actually, you know, flip it to you because you know, you have a platform. You took that platform for good. I, I was blown away when you didn't even wanna bring this up, but you brought it up like, hey, because of the impact it had on my relationship, you created a platform for couples. I want you to talk about that before we stop, but also answer that question. What would you want people to take away from your last name
Devon
To start with? Well, we created a, a, a company called Marriage Made Easier. And I, I went to school, I studied applied positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. And I also taught, I was an assistant instructor in that program because I wanted to learn the science behind resilience and wellbeing because I wanted to give people the tools and the resources to overcome the challenges that come with marriage. Whether you're dealing with a child, fragile child or not, uh, there's a lot of challenges that we deal with. So I created this platform with my wife and it has really impacted a lot of couples, but when it comes to what do I want people to say to my daughters about me is that your dad, he cared. You know, he didn't just focus on him and the challenges he was going through, but he realized that he's not the only one going through those challenges.
And he used his platform in the right way as a NFL player to create that positive change that he really poured out into the world more than he took from the world. And I hope that one day that that opens up doors for my daughters. 'cause I have three beautiful daughters now I know I was fighting to help my daughter overcome her battle with cancer, but now I have a 13-year-old who thinks she's 21. I have a, a 4-year-old and I have a 1-year-old all girls. So they definitely bring out a different side to me. They bring out that softer side, which I think allows me to show up in the world in a different space than being that, you know, warrior on the football field affording me to do so. When
Drew
You say softer side, I just gotta smile when I'm like just sitting across
Devon
The Yeah, I know a lot of people don't see salt, think of salt when they look at me. But yeah, they brought out a side of me that I don't think anybody else could bring. So every day that I, I walk outside of my home and I make a decision, I'm always reminded about how does this impact my girls' lives? Wow. Because they adopted my last name. And when they talk to people, I want them to be proud that when they say that my name is Leah still and my name is Amaya still and my name is Aria still. I want them to smile when they say that because they know that their dad represented their last name the right way.
Drew
That's awesome. I'm, I wanna ask one more question. You guys have time for one more question I wanna ask him because I wanna know. 'cause I'm like, dude, I met you this morning and I'm like, this guy is impressive on multiple levels. , there's something that comes in mind just by getting to know you this morning. You, there's something that I saw once in a TED talk and it stuck with me because I wish I had more of it. And it's this woman called Angela Duckworth and she talks about one
Devon
Of my professors at Penn. Really?
Drew
Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And she says the most important ingredient in life to be successful is grit. Like GRIT. And I was trying to like the
Devon
Passion and perseverance for a long time goals.
Drew
This is gonna be awesome 'cause like this week I'm sitting here trying to like speak to my 10-year-old about grit. It did not go well. It was not a good conversation. , I think he looked at me like turned off and I'm like, all right, how do I start thinking about grit and everything you did in this journey of helping your daughter conquer cancer, creating a positive movement from it? I'd love to know, 'cause I'd love to learn from you. Like where did that grit, that determination where you put your family on your back, you managed the transition of being an NFL player and all that was around that. Give us some insight into your grit, where it came from, how we can develop that as we go through all these challenges.
Devon
So there's a number of different things that really helped me build the grit. Number one, it started with overcoming smaller challenges. Challenges in my life. Like when I made it to the NFLI, I broke my leg when I was in ninth grade playing basketball and I had to have, uh, season in the surgery. My first year at Penn State, I tore my ACL, my MCL my second year at Penn State. I broke my leg my senior year. I tore my rotator cuff, I had a herniated disc. And with every challenge that I had to overcome, it was building that grip. It was building that resiliency so that when I faced my daughter's battle with cancer, all I had to do was tap back into what I had been able to do in the past because I already built up the self-efficacy that I had the ability to change the world around me.
And that if I really focused on something, I could overcome it. The second thing that really helped me out that is very easy to adopt if you don't tear ACL or MCL or break your leg, is I'm very value driven rather than goal driven. Like I have goals in my life, but I don't allow my goals to direct my path. I allow my values to, and I say this because my senior year in college, I was watching I think Oprah and she said something on her show that really changed the way that I looked at life. And she said, if you don't know who you are before the money and fame comes, then you'll never know who you are. And that day I sat down in my living room and I wrote down what I valued as a man. And I wrote down God. I wrote down my faith, I wrote down my family and then I wrote down football.
So when my daughter was diagnosed with cancer, a lot of people say, man, you really gave up a lot to be there for your daughter. You gave up the American dream playing in the NFL and making millions of dollars. It, it had to be so hard. And I'm like, it was really the easiest decision I ever made in my life because I understood what I valued. And the reason why I wanted to be in the NFL was of course to play a game that I loved as a child. But it was the experience aside of life with my family that I never knew existed. And if my daughter's life was in jeopardy, then playing in the NFL didn't mean anything to me. 'cause I couldn't share that with the people I love the most. So it was easy for me to walk away. So for anybody who is really trying to build that grit in their life, understand what you value in life so that people can't just pull you in any way that you don't really belong in because you're more goal driven than value driven.
Drew
Wow. That's awesome. Yep. Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you for that. Yeah.
Devon
Thank you for this conversation. I hope that people are able to walk away with not only ways that they can help change the world when it comes to childhood cancer, but just ways that you can change your own lives and leave a positive impact on this world. So thank you all for joining us today.
Drew
Thank you guys.
Narrator
In February, 2024, the team at Pfizer launched an advertisement on one of the world's biggest stages. The Let's Outdo Cancer Campaign aims to focus on advances in fighting against cancer. And it was kicked off in a commercial during football's biggest game. To learn more, visit let's out do cancer.com.