Burla Albert (Albert Bourla)

Burla Albert (Albert Bourla)

Biography

2018: Appointment as Pfizer chief

On October 1, 2018, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which also produces drug injection equipment , announced a CEO change. He became Albert Burla, who will replace Ian Read, who led the company for eight years. The appointment will take effect on January 1, 2019.

It has been a privilege to be CEO of Pfizer for the past eight years. However, now is the right time to change the leader, and Albert is exactly the person who can lead Pfizer into a new era, "Reed said.

Burla, 56, was named Pfizer's chief operating officer in early 2018. Prior to that, he headed the Innovative Health division, which ended 2017 with revenue of $31.4 billion.

It looks like a well-planned shift, so I'm not sure that it will mark a major change in strategic thinking, since, for example, Yang will still remain chairman of the board of directors, said Berenberg analyst Alistair Campbell, commenting on the appointment of the new CEO Pfizer.

Since Ian Reed led Pfizer in December 2010, the company's shares have risen in price by 160% by the beginning of October 2018. Against the background of the statement about the change of the general director, the quotes of the manufacturer of medicines increased by 0.36% on Monday, October 1, the Reuters news agency notes.

One of Reed's first decisions as CEO was to cut Pfizer's spending on research, which he called waste. He also oversaw a review of which drugs should be given attention. He refused to work on antiallergic and urological drugs, deciding that they were low-value and their chances of success were low. Reed stated that this decision was part of a thoughtful course designed to teach the company frugality, after which it was possible to re-undertake research.^[1]

2020: Sale of 60% of the company's shares

In mid-November 2020, CEO Pfizer Albert Bourla sold 62% of his stake in the company on the same day Pfizer announced the test results. In COVID-19 vaccines total, Burla sold $5.6 million worth of shares at a price of $41.94 per dollar share. It is known that the CEO cashed in his shares at a price that was approaching the maximum value of the shares in 2020.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech became the first firms to submit positive test results vaccines from COVID-19 the late stage. According to companies, the tested vaccine provides more than 90% protection for vaccinated people - in general, only 94 cases of infection were observed among several thousand participants. The announcement delivered rapid gains in Pfizer shares, which grew nearly 15% in value in a single day.

Pfizer CEO Albert Burla sold 60% of the company's shares on the day the results of the coronavirus vaccine trial were announced

Burla sold 132,508 shares of the company, according to filings registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale of this package was carried out in accordance with a predetermined plan that allows the company's employees to sell their shares in accordance with insider trading laws. The sale of Bourla's shares was part of a plan passed on August 19, 2020. The CEO still owns an additional 81,812 Pfizer shares.

Pfizer confirmed that the sale of Bourle's stock was part of a negotiated plan that allows major shareholders and corporate insiders to trade a predetermined number of shares at an agreed time.

The CEO authorized the sale of these shares through our administrator on August 19, 2020, provided that the shares reach a certain price by the agreed date, a Pfizer spokesman said.[2]

2022: COVID-19 coronavirus infection after four doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine

Pfizer CEO Albert Burla contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus in August 2022 after four doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

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