The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs Inc. (

, strengthening research protections for hundreds of thousands of participants around the globe.

Pfizer is one of three organizations whose accreditation was approved by the AAHRPP Council on Accreditation in March. Others include a healthcare network in Connecticut and an independent institutional review board in Maryland.

The newly accredited organizations are:

·         Hartford HealthCare, Hartford, Conn.
·         MaGil IRB Inc., Rockville, Md.
·         Pfizer Inc., New York, N.Y.

The accreditation of Pfizer—the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company and the first major commercial research sponsor to attain AAHRPP accreditation— is expected to have global repercussions.

In 2009, Pfizer became the first pharmaceutical company to earn AAHRPP accreditation for its phase I clinical research units, which are located in New Haven, Conn.; and Brussels, Belgium. The current accreditation applies to all of Pfizer’s phase 2 through 4 clinical trials.

“AAHRPP accreditation affirms that Pfizer provides a higher level of protection for research participants regardless of where they live or the type of trial involved,” said Marjorie A. Speers, Ph.D., AAHRPP president and CEO.

“Thousands of Pfizer researchers worldwide are conducting research in accordance with the ‘gold standard’ for quality and ethics,” Speers added. “That raises the bar and sets an example for other sponsors to follow.”

AAHRPP accreditation is available to U.S. and international organizations that conduct biomedical, behavioral or social sciences research involving human participants. To date, AAHRPP has accredited organizations in 46 states, Canada, China, India, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.