Pfizer Agrees to End Racially Discriminatory Fellowship, Resolving Anti-DEI Lawsuit


Pfizer has agreed to end its fellowship designed exclusively for black, Latino, and Native American applicants as part of its resolution of an anti-DEI lawsuit, in which the plaintiff argued the program illegally discriminated against whites and Asians.

The pharmaceutical giant said it will stop accepting new fellows to the program, according to court documents approved on Friday. The case is now dismissed following the agreement.

Do No Harm, a policy advocacy group that opposes diversity, equity, and inclusion in medicine, sued Pfizer in September 2022 for illegally barring whites and Asians from applying for its Breakthrough Fellowship Program. Created in 2021, the program sought to boost the pipeline of black, Latino, and Native American leaders within the drug company. By 2025, Pfizer hoped to train 100 diverse fellows.

Read more in the National Review.