Pfizer chief Albert Bourla sold his 5.6m company shares amid vaccine breakthrough
Albert Bourla sold 132,508 of his Pfizer shares at $41.94 a share on the same day the company announced its COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough.
The chief executive of Pfizer sold almost two thirds of his shares in the drugs company for dollars 5.6 million on the same day that it announced a breakthrough on its COVID-19 vaccine, which sent its shares higher.
Albert Bourla sold 132,508 shares in the company, 62 per cent of his holding, at an average price of dollars 41.94 a share, filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission show.
Pfizer’s shares closed up 7.7 per cent on Monday at dollars 39.20 after the company said that initial, late-stage clinical trial data showed that the vaccine was 90 per cent effective. Yesterday (Wednesday) they fell 0.4 per cent to close at dollars 38.52.
The encouraging data also triggered a relief really in global markets and raised hopes of mass vaccinations next year to help to combat the coronavirus. Pfizer’s stock closed as high as dollars 40.71 in January, meaning that Dr Bourla sold his shares at close to their best value this year. He retains 81,812 shares.
A spokeswoman for Pfizer said the shares had been sold as part of Dr Bourla’s “personal financial planning and a pre-established plan, which allows, under SEC rules, major shareholders and insiders of exchange-listed corporations to trade a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined time … Through our stock plan administrator, Dr Bourla authorised the sale of these shares on August 19, 2020, provided the stock was at least at a certain price.” There is no suggestion of wrongdoing.
Pfizer is developing the vaccine in partnership with Biontech, a German company. Pfizer said on Monday that it would produce up to 50 million vaccine doses globally this year, half the number it projected in July, and up to 1.3 billion in 2021.
MODERNA, the Nasdaq-listed company developing a vaccine based on similar technology to that used by Pfizer and Biontech, said that it was on course to report early data from a late-stage trial of its experimental treatment this month.
The Times
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