Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry Pfizer CEO took on COVID. Now he wants to cure cancer | Titans and Disruptors
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Jan 27, 2026 Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and CEO who led the company through COVID vaccine triumphs, discusses refocusing Pfizer on science and R&D. He talks about scaling vaccine manufacturing, tackling oncology and AI-driven drug discovery. He also covers pricing/access approaches, rebuilding trust after the pandemic, and bold plans to transform cancer and neuroscience research.
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Tiered Pricing During Pandemic
- Bourla argues Pfizer priced the COVID vaccine responsibly with tiered pricing and free doses for low-income countries.
- High sales resulted from volume, not unjustified per-dose profiteering, he says.
Reinvesting To Replace Lost Revenue
- Pfizer expects to return to strong growth by reinvesting COVID profits into R&D and acquisitions.
- Bourla framed cancer and other pipelines as the path to replace fading COVID revenue and patent expirations.
Pivot From COVID To Cancer
- After COVID Bourla redirected Pfizer to focus its reinvestment on cancer, citing acquisitions like Seagen (Cigen) and clinical wins.
- He emphasized incremental but transformative survival improvements in bladder, prostate, and colorectal cancers.