A postscript is needed to our post from the other day about the decision by Pfizer to change its previously filed plan about the analysis of data from its Covid-19 vaccine trial. It turns out that the Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, sold $5.6 million of company stock on November 9, the day the good vaccine news was announced. The sale took place under a plan adopted August 19.
An SEC Form 4 shows Bourla sold 132,508 shares at a price of $41.94 on November 9, 2020. That's $5,557,385.52. The same form shows that after the transaction, he directly or indirectly still owned 81,812 shares, or about $3.1 million at current prices.
NPR quotes a Wharton professor describing the sale and the timing as "troubling" and "wholly inappropriate." NPR's report indicates the sale was triggered by a price threshold, not a fixed-date plan. That is a relief, because if there had been a fixed-date sale set and, as Stat has reported, Pfizer was "leaving samples in storage" rather than analyzing them immediately....well, one can't even imagine.
