Pfizer’s CEO Sells 62% of his Shares as Company Develops Breakthrough COVID-19 Vaccine

Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has sold $5.6 million of his stock in the company.

According to CNN, Bourla filed to sell 62% of his stock on Monday, the same day the company announced the success of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in clinical trials.

Pfizer’s shares spiked by more than 15% earlier in the week after data showed that the coronavirus vaccine it developed in collaboration with European drug company, BioNTech, could be 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 symptoms.

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Although the American multinational said the sale was part of a routine plan designed by Bourla to sell off some of his Pfizer shares periodically, the timing drew eyeballs to the move.

The filing with the the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Bourla sold 132,508 of his Pfizer (PFE) shares at a price of $41.94, totaling $5.6 million. It was reported that an executive vice president at the company, Sally Susman, also sold 43,662 shares, amounting to about $1.8 million.

Experts say such pre-arrange stock sales are designed to shield executives from insider trading accusations.

Pfizer had said it can manufacture only about 1.3 billion doses of the vaccine next year. Already, the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and Japan have claimed about 1.1 billion doses – that is more than 80% of the supply. This leaves low and middle-income countries, including African nations, at a disadvantage.