The heat is rising on Albert Bourla, the Pfizer C.E.O. Antsy investors have shaved more than $160 billion from the drugmaker’s value over the past 30 months

Pfizer produced the world’s first vaccine, with BioNTech, and investors betting on society reopening made Pfizer a favorite stock pick — shares hit a record high in late 2021.

Pfizer faces a new threat

The heat is rising on Albert Bourla, the Pfizer C.E.O. Antsy investors have shaved more than $160 billion from the drugmaker’s value over the past 30 months as fears grow that its pandemic-era heyday is well in the past.

Now, Bourla has a new worry: The activist investor Starboard has amassed a $1 billion stake in Pfizer, and is pushing for big changes at the pharmaceutical giant, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Bourla was one of the faces of the Covid recovery. Pfizer produced the world’s first vaccine, with BioNTech, and investors betting on society reopening made Pfizer a favorite stock pick — shares hit a record high in late 2021.

But growth has slowed. Pfizer booked roughly $100 billion in revenue from the sales of the coronavirus vaccine and from Paxlovid, a Covid-19 treatment, in 2022 alone. Since then, the company has been forced to dial back its growth outlook on expected softer demand for Covid-related drugs.

Starboard is trying to enlist the help of two former Pfizer executives. The investor has approached Ian Read, who, as C.E.O., was credited with restoring Pfizer’s fortunes last decade and who chose Bourla as his successor, and Frank D’Amelio, a former C.F.O., to add clout to its turnaround plan, The Journal reported. They are said to have shown an interest in participating.

Other clouds on Pfizer’s horizon include:

Efforts to crack the high-margin weight-loss market and to take on rivals like Novo Nordisk and its Ozempic drug have fallen flat.

Pfizer’s aggressive M.&A. strategy — it has spent roughly $70 billion on deals since 2020, according to CNBC — has so far failed to deliver. Nonetheless, Pfizer has said that it expects Seagen, a cancer-drug maker it bought last year for $43 billion, to generate $10 billion in revenues by 2030.

A $17 billion hit from expiring patents by the end of the decade.

Pfizer isn’t the only post-pandemic stock darling that is struggling. Moderna, another major Covid vaccine maker, has been hit with analyst downgrades. Both companies have been forced to roll out cost-cutting plans as they seek ways to grow.

Andrw Ross Sorkin

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