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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Scaling Vaccine Manufacturing
- Albert Bourla described how Pfizer scaled from ~200 million to 3 billion vaccine doses by rallying public-private collaboration and manufacturing ingenuity.
- He credited manufacturing teams and cross-sector cooperation for achieving what seemed impossible.
Demand Solutions, Not Excuses
- Ask teams to stop explaining why something is impossible and to instead focus on how to make it happen.
- Put clear stakes and urgency on the task so people unleash creativity and deliver above expectations.
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.