This view is also consistent with the fact that in late August, the CEO revised his stock sale plan, pre-committing to selling a significant amount of shares on November 9. My ambition was to have an academic career and I was really geared towards thatPfizer Greecewas recruiting at that time,and they reached out to me to offer me a very good position in their animal health group, which in the beginning I was very reluctant to take. FREDERICK KEMPE:You also said that your Jewish upbringing in Greece, coming from a small country on the world stage, being of a religious minority from the country, taught you to fight for what you believe is right and never to give up. The first thing that we discussed with Uur wasthe principles under whichweare going tooperate, and we said,itdoesntmatter who does what. Topping that list were the election committees for both Democrats and Republicans, followed by Republican leaders and Coons. Well, he's half right, it has more to do with money than politics. Lawmakers heading into the 2020 elections face increasing pressure to pare back the costs consumers pay for drugs. FREDERICK KEMPE:What other doors might this mRNA vaccine openfor you and for science in general? Fighting for his political life after three inconclusive elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that the pandemic will determine his fate on March 23. . The agreement with the US government is that they can give them to whoever they wantas long asthey belong to the list of theninety-two, approximately, poorest countries in the world. In the full video, he talks about reducing the number of . A weekly column by Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe, Inflection Points focuses on the global challenges facing the United States and how to best address them. I hope so. medicine and is credited with reshaping Pfizer to be a company focused on research and development. And if people are given the resources and they are given a very biggoal, if you force them to think big, they will surprise you. ALBERT BOURLA:Well, I can tell you that President von der Leyen [is] one of the most knowledgeable leaders. Have you learned anything during thisperiod of timeabout whether and how one can overcome them and how did you have to work within them to navigate this period? A spokesperson for Pfizer told The Associated Press that Myriam Bourla is "alive and well." The official called the incorrect claims "lies" meant to undermine public confidence in the company's COVID-19 vaccine. The other one was a Greek Jew that immigrated to the United States. [3], After he was awarded the Genesis Prize by Israeli President Isaac Herzog for his leadership in delivering the PfizerBioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, he directed the $1 million prize to Holocaust education and the Holocaust Museum of Greece to be built in Thessaloniki. We use cookies to improve your website experience. It was a very humbling experience to be able to do that and, literally, meet families of many leadersinthe world because, you know, we had calls evenings and nights trying to find solutions to their problems, and that was also a very humbling experience. Albert Bourla made the comments in an interview with Yahoo Finance after the company announced a new Omicron-specific version of the vaccine would be ready by March, with doses already being manufactured. There is going to be a huge need for good medicines. I think we believe that life will go back to the way that we knew before. Image: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla talks during a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the factory of US pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Puurs, Belgium on April 23, 2021. And because there were, again somuch stress that creates a bonding experience for both leaders, me from a small company, her the president of a big company, Pfizer, but compared to what she is doing, the president of European Commission, clearly, she has way bigger responsibilities. [3][8] Robert Bradway, the CEO of Amgen, gave $67,308, similarly to committees connected to Cornyn, Gardner, McCarthy, and Tillis. Bourla has held various positions at Pfizer in his 25. [3][55], He is regularly featured by CNBC and The New York Times and makes weekly posts on LinkedIn promoting Pfizer's work. Thatsridiculous. Now, you put a piece of the virus so that you will not get the disease, or you put the deadvirus,or you put the modified virus,or there are new technologies, but this is the fundamental[part of most vaccines], that youre putting a piece of the virus so that your body will developanimmune response. The group included senior executives with Eli Lilly and Co., Merck & Co. Inc., and AbbVie Inc., as well as Pfizer and Amgen. ALBERT BOURLA:You know, I am a veterinarian by educational background, and after I graduated fromthe veterinaryschoolI did a PhD in the biotechnology of reproduction. Another aims to overhaul Medicare to reduce what seniors pay. . [8], Bourla became Pfizer's chief operating officer (COO) on January 1, 2018, overseeing the company's drug development, manufacturing, sales, and strategy. A spokeswoman for Pfizer said the company has no control over any colleagues personal contributions to any politician or elected official.. He maintains a home in Chalkidiki, which he visits every summer. ALBERT BOURLA:Im afraid it[caused]quite a lot of damageand particularly with us, we were targeted by a lot of, lets say, dark organizations thatyoudont really know[who owns them]. MENASource offers the latest news from across the Middle East, combined with commentary by contributors, interviews with emerging players, multi-media content, and independent analysis from fellows and staff. Theyre not bad people. [3], Bourla was awarded the 2022 Genesis Prize for his leadership in the development of the PfizerBioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. That was the speed of science. It should not be like that, and it wasa very badservice to humanity. When Bourla took over as Pfizer's leader in 2019, he took a. The following is a transcript of an interview with Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla that aired Sunday, September 13, 2020, on "Face the Nation." Bourla also appeared on "Face the Nation" on March. As Dr. Bourla makes clear, Pfizer's success wasn't due to luck . [42] He joined Pfizer's board of directors in February 2018, and also serves on the board of the Pfizer Foundation. Download all contribution records for this person. Spokespersons for Merck and AbbVie didnt return requests for comment. I had seen in China that hospitals were overwhelmed, and we are one of the biggest suppliers of hospital products in the world. He opposes government interference in pharmaceutical pricing, which he argues would hamper spending on development of new drugs. And were there elements of that in the vaccine fight as well? Yoususpect that there are some countries behind. AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. The vibrant Jewish community of 55,000 was almost completely wiped out during the . Bourla's doctoral thesis (1991) is titled "Effect of melatonin implants on sperm characteristics and on the freezability of Karagouniki ram semen". That will end. [I told] them thatif thats going to be successful, that will be notjustthe first COVID-19vaccine, that will be the first vaccine ever with mRNA. I think thats the most likely to bring fruits faster. AfricaSource We set up a price,thatit is the cost of a takeaway meal in the developed world. For Gods sake, it is such abigmistakeandit was such a bigdisserviceto society to politicize something like that, to become a political statement if you want to mask or not. IranSource provides a holistic look at Irans internal dynamics, global and regional policies, and posture through unique analysis of current events and long-term, strategic issues related to Iran. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla couldn't have dreamed he would play a lead role in Israel's ongoing election drama. It isonebillion doses. There is a very small part of professionals [who] circulate, on purpose, misinformation so that they will mislead those that they have concerns[with the vaccine]. On the table are proposals that would empower the federal government to demand lower prices for certain medicines. whatever political party or church you do, or don't go to. However, I have been surprised many times in my life with things that in science,we expectthings,and they dont come exactly like that. FREDERICK KEMPE:We all have particularly formative experiences in our lives. Albert Bourla is both the Chairman and the CEO of Pfizer. We were preparing for two years,and we found ourselves to be at the right set ofmind,so that we coulddevelop the breakthrough ina recordperiod of time. Sothe solution was to build more so that everybody can get it, and this is where we invested dramatically, and from 1.3 billion doses that we were expecting to produce towards the end of2020, in2021pretty soonin the first quarter, we raised that tothreebillion instead of 1.3 billion. In 2009 he promoted the launch of Improvac on the European Market. [5] His parents, who were Sephardi Jews, were among the 2,000 of 50,000 Jews in Thessaloniki to survive the Holocaust; According to Bourla, his mother was allegedly minutes away from execution by firing squad when she was spared via a ransom paid to a Nazi Party official by her non-Jewish brother-in-law, while his father happened to be out of the Jewish ghetto when the residents were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp and went into hiding, never to see his parents again.[6][7]. FREDERICK KEMPE:Youre a Greek-born American. The following is a full transcript of an interview with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla that aired Sunday, March 13, 2022, on "Face the Nation." CBS News App Jan. 6 Probe [49][3] He received $21 million in compensation from Pfizer in 2020. FREDERICK KEMPE:And part of this was an agreement with, I believe,theBiden administration and the US government, in whichyou provided atcost,and they are providing to certain countries at no cost. Together with my wife,we lived indifferent citiesinfive different countries. Buteventually, they convinced me to do it and it was always my idea that for me,it wouldbe kind of a sabbatical. Related Experts: They didnt try to do the eight years,seven years of development. The offeralso willbe there. Albert Bourla, the head of Pfizer, gave $60,783 to a list of committees affiliated with Senate Republicans, including McConnell and Sens. And, almost too perfectly convenient, anti-Trump CEO Albert Bourla, a Greek businessman, sold 60% of his shares on the day of the vaccine announcement, as per a previously designated plan. 2020 Transaction Count/Amount. Dr. Bourla chronicles how the brilliant, dedicated minds at Pfizer, under the enormous strains of the global pandemic, overcame a series of crises that were compounded by social and political unrest, and reveals the doubts, decisions, obstacles, and failures they encountered. A hundred fifty million people in the world are moving to cities every year. In February, it started becoming clear to me that this might go outside of China, and then in the second half of February,I was in Europe to attend an Economic Forum meeting and I went there and then two days before, and then the forum was canceled because of COVID-19. . But the most pivotal thing that we did was we had an agreement with BioNTech, a collaboration agreement, that was signed in 2018 to develop a flu vaccine by using this technology. The haul by political action and campaign committees affiliated with McConnell (R-Ky.) came after a late-year surge in giving. A lot of our discussions were going really, really to the bottom of what is happening and what would be the best way to address them. There are a lot of technologies that are trying to use gene editing,so that they are trying to use the same technology to be able to change,orrepair, the mistake of your DNA so that you can cure, basically, those people. Fromfifty thousandJews, onlytwo thousandsurvived,thatsa 96 percent extermination in the city of Thessaloniki in Greece, and among thosetwo thousandwere my father and mother. Allergan had agreed to pay the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Tribe $15 million a year to take ownership of the patents and then sought to dismiss challenges filed by Mylan NV, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Akorn Inc. McConnell, Republicans seen as bulwark against price controls, Giving showcases Democrats push to lower cost of medicines. Pfizer's yearly high was just a few cents more at $41.99. They never spoke to us about revenge. ALBERT BOURLA:Itsabsolutely right. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla isn't afraid of taking risks and it's paid off in big ways for the pharmaceutical and biotech giant. In January, [our entire discipline was] thinking that COVID-19is an issue that mainly concerns China, and we were very concerned because of that, because we have significant operations in China. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd called Pfizer's global head Albert Bourla in a private capacity. She knew details about thedisease,and she knew details about the technology, and I was very impressed. Delta Air Lines Inc.'s (NYSE: DAL) advertisement is airing on CNN and Fox News commercial breaks through 8 p.m. "This post by Ed Bastian is consistent with statements he has made in the past about . The othertwenty-fiveyears I spent internationally. CNN . We almost died and we survived, and look what we have now our family. They met after the Holocaust. Dr Albert Bourla said he thought this would be needed to maintain a "very high level of protection". The five drug company executives, who collectively head the pharmaceutical firms that were the most politically active in 2019 as measured by PAC donations, gave almost exclusively to Republicans and political action committees that use their money to support Republicans running for office. Andif Im not mistaken, mRNA vaccines had never been used for clinical use before. I will go tomakea small breakin the industry and thencome back to what I really love doing, which was teaching and researching in academia. We were getting a lot of briefings fromCIA, fromFBI, aboutcyberattacks that may happen to us,but also about the spread of misinformation. FREDERICK KEMPE:Talk about[your collaboration with BioNTech]and why this one has worked. The texts, which were exchanged during crucial negotiations for Covid-19 vaccines last year, have not been disclosed to the public or to an EU . Albert Bourla was born in Thessaloniki, home to an ancient Jewish community that traced its roots to antiquity. New Atlanticist It lookslikethere is a chance that this will become an annual revaccination. ALBERT BOURLA CEO of Pfizer Relevant Financial Information Publications, Media, and Speaking Donates a small portion of his large net worth to mostly Republican candidates Political Donations: Mostly Republicans and politicians from the northeast Mitch McConnell (R), 2020, $5,600 Kirsten Gillibrand (D), 2018, $5,400 Youve seen the science evolve. ALBERT BOURLA:I think itwasbecausebothcompanieshad developedvery similarcultures. We saw the firstvaccine ever, which was the COVID-19vaccine,with mRNA technology. It is clear that whenyou start from scratch,in thefirst month you will have fewer doses than the month after. The job was in Athens,so to join Pfizer I did the first relocation, which I found very difficult to do,from Thessaloniki to Athens. Pfizer Chairman and CEO AlbertBourlajoined the Atlantic Council to talk about his collaboration with BioNTech on the COVID-19 vaccine,his take onmisinformation and politics in medicine, and hispersonal story. ", "Pfizer's CEO is stepping down after 8 years meet the man who will be replacing him", https://www.improvac.com/assets/document/tim1009techbulletin_0509.pdf, https://www.youtube.com/embed/ImBvMvmWNKg?controls=0&, Improvac: Pfizer's Albert Bourla on the boar taint vaccine, "Pfizer, Mylan to Team Up on Generics Business in Japan", "Pfizer's CEO Ian Read to leave in January", "Drugmaker Pfizer's CEO Read to be replaced by COO Bourla", "Behind Pfizer's latest upheaval at the top", "How Pfizer Set the Cost of Its New Drug at $9,850 a Month", "Pfizer Sets Up Succession Plan With Creation of Operating Chief Role", "Pfizer's incoming CEO represents pipeline push over dealmaking", "Pfizer executive vice president leaving company by 'mutual agreement', "Pfizer creates chief operating officer role for Bourla", "PFIZER NAMES ALBERT BOURLA CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER", "Pfizer to replace longtime CEO Read with veteran Bourla", "Pfizer Prepares for CEO Transition With Executive Suite Changes", "Drug company CEOs admit prescription prices are too high. In most of them our kids had to follow because they were born. Anotherfieldis the field of infectious diseases. It was not luck. Soas you can see now, you dont even put a piece of the virus. So that also followed me all the way to the COVID-19vaccine. ALBERT BOURLA:I believe so becausethe personality of someone is really built in the early daysofhis life, and then it follows in whatever they do. The mRNA technology is trying to reverse this challenge. And the second was that there was a very deep,instilled sense of purpose. UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders, politicians, experts, and activists from Ukraine and the global community. Amgens affiliated PAC gives to candidates that are generally supportive of policies to advance healthcare innovation and improve patient access to new and existing therapies. the spokeswoman, Kelley Davenport, said. FREDERICK KEMPE:And youve shared a little bit in the past about direct phone calls from the president of the United States, direct communication. Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer. Not at all. Those that dont get the vaccine, theyre afraid of the vaccine and they are mad with the people that are pressing them to get it. The lesson for me is that the leader needs to do whatever he or shecan notto comeina position that will stress the people. We need to wait and see. FREDERICK KEMPE:Can you explain to us how the mRNA works differentlyandwhy was it ready at this point if it hadnt been ready for clinical use before? Behind McCarthy (R-Calif.) and McConnell in donations from pharmaceutical executives sits the National Republican Congressional Committee and a slate of Senate Republicans up for re-election in 2020. Below, edited for length and clarity, isBourlasconversation with Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council. And when we went to the low-income countries, we gave them a priceat cost. I couldnt just tell them Im not giving it to you anymore. It is the cost to society of people living longer, which means more health care costs, more pensions, more everything. A vaccine turned political Bourla addressed the politicalization of this pandemic and said that Pfizer had to work with both the Trump and Biden presidential administrations. These teams reallythoughtbig. Is a booster shot enough right now? Albert Bourla said Pfizer's goal was to reduce by 50% the number of people who 'cannot afford our medicines,' but key words were edited out Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaks during a ceremony . We brought it very early. We do not direct how employees contribute to political candidates, Kelley Murphy, Eli Lillys senior director of corporate communications, said in an email. Sign up to receive expert analyses from our community on the most important global issues, rapid insights on events as they unfold, and highlights of the Council's best work. The first was to have a price thatwouldnot become an obstacle to any country, and that was easy to resolve. We focused our research. I sent lettersintoheads of states of these countries urging them to change their position and place orders because the quantities will be allocated. All of that, basically, I took a serious bet in the science of the company and this I did, as I said, because I truly felt that we are at this time at the same point. Bourla is also a member of The Business Council and the Business Roundtable. But they had a fear,and I understand it, and they dont want to take chances. We [were] moving full speed anyway ourselves and I just [needed] to let my people work without worrying about politics, and eventually we did it. The question is how long will it last? I was very familiar with mRNA technology because we had hired people back in 2015[who]specializedin mRNA. Prior to becoming chief executive officer, Bourla served as chief operating officer. These are just three of the very hot cutting-edge technological fronts that right now we are working on. Download all contribution records for this person. New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challengesand the United States role in addressing them alongside its allies and partners. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said he is disappointed in the US politicization of a COVID-19 vaccine in a letter to employees. Bourla also discusses with CNN's Richard Quest the. I think this is what stamped my personality from the early days, this optimism,and this belief that its never the end before it is really the end, and you can always do things to change your fate, and Im grateful to them for that. From the perspective of industry, their best-case scenario is to put their money into places to prevent the structural changes that could cut into their bottom lines, said Margarida Jorge, campaign director of Lower Drug Prices Now. Ourselves, we are working on a flu vaccine, as I said, since 2018, and that could be next-generation flu vaccines with mRNA. It will recognize the virus as an enemy and will create antibodies. ALBERT BOURLA:Yes. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pushing for major changes for the pharmaceutical industry meant to lower what Americans pay at the pharmacy have said McConnell stands as a major barrier to clearing their legislation. The European Union placed orders. The other thing that I learned, because that gave me the opportunity to speak with a lot of leaders You realize that they are human beings. [Nothing else] matters [other]than bringing the vaccine,asournumber-one priority. Une communaut juive vivante et dynamique. Hes the ranking member on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and worked with Tillis in 2019 on updating patent rules that affect the drug industry. The only thing that stands between the new way of life and the current way of life, frankly, isthehesitancyto get vaccinated,thepeople thatareafraid togetthe vaccines,and they createissuesnot onlyforthem. Because, obviously, theres a lot of pressure on them as well, as you said, as human beings. Albert Bourla, DVM, PhD, will deliver the address at the 2021 University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) Commencement to be held virtually on Monday, May 17, 2021. To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Ruoff in Washington at aruoff@bgov.com, To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Hendrie at phendrie@bgov.com; Robin Meszoly at rmeszoly@bgov.com; Jonathan Nicholson at jnicholson@bgov.com. Every day we tried to navigate the political mindset and the way that I saw it was that I had to create pressure[to]our people butalso,I had to protect our people from internal bureaucracy, from external bureaucracy,andgive them the resources so that they can work. Political Campaign Contributions. Later, I met also zlem, his wonderful wife,who is a pivotal member of the research team over there. Albert Bourla said the US drugmaker would never submit any vaccine for authorisation before it felt it was safe and effective. It is thatwhen it comes to leadership,peopledont know what they can and cannot do and, if anything, they have a severe tendency to underestimate what they can achieve. But then I said I need to talk to their CEO, and I called Uur and that was the first time that we spoke on the phone. 40.39 USD +0.21 +0.52% Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said he tested positive for Covid-19 and is receiving Paxlovid, the treatment made by his company. He was born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece, by Sephardi Jews parents, who were among the few survivors of Greek's port city, Thessaloniki's Sephardic Jewish community. They brought me plans that they wantedto use the mRNA technology. The campaign of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and affiliated committees were the leading beneficiaries, raking in more than $91,000 from five top industry executives in 2019, Federal Election Commission records show. . They were telling their stories, and then the moral of the stories was that nothing is impossible. ThoseI understand. Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla on CNBC's "Squawk Box" (M-F, 6AM-9AM ET) today, Monday, December 14 th.Following is a link to . We hadfifteen thousandpeople at that time, we had four manufacturing sites, and we were worried about our people and how they would be able to maintain their jobs. But those will send the signal to yourselfto produce this protein. Bourla earned a doctorate in the biotechnology of reproduction at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's Veterinary School in 1985. They are criminals because they literally cost millions of lives. 2020 Election Cycle. FREDERICK KEMPE:Where do we stand today? FREDERICK KEMPE:And is there going to be an annual vaccine for COVID-19? And then number threewas thatwe need to develop a vaccine and a treatment. Previously, he served as group president of Pfizer . FREDERICK KEMPE:Youve also come to seeclose upthe inequities in the global health care system, which also has influence on recovering from COVID-19. Fromafirst glance, wecould be the exact opposite. Japan placed orders. FREDERICK KEMPE:Give us a little bit of a feeling of when you saw that COVID-19 was going to be the challenge that it became and what did you move to take it on? Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla shares Pfizer's plan to bring all its existing and future vaccines to 45 low-income countries at zero profit. ALBERT BOURLA:I hope so. We know that we saw a waning of immunity six months after the second dose. [22][23][24], From February 2016 to December 2017, he was group president of Pfizer Innovative Health. ALBERT BOURLA:I think the booster shot, the third dose, is the one that gives very, very high level of protection, higher than the originally achievedlevels of protection, which was 95 percent with the two doses. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) similarly has said McConnells rejections of her Medicare negotiation bill (H.R. Clearly, there will be an issue, which is the cost, and I think thats the biggest issue that we are going to face. 3483. [48], Bourla and his wife live in Scarsdale, New York.

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