Pfizer’s former CEO and CFO relayed proposals from activist investor Starboard Value to several members of the company’s board on Sunday, according to a source familiar with the conversations, as part of the activist’s push for changes at the drugmaker.
The involvement of ex-CEO Ian Read and ex-CFO Frank D’Amelio is a rare case of prior management becoming engaged in what could be a bruising activist fight for the future of one of the world’s biggest pharma companies.
According to the individual, Read and D’Amelio were approached by Starboard, but are acting on their own as shareholders in the company. The two were described by another source as “happy to help” with efforts to improve the company’s performance. Starboard has taken a $1 billion stake in New York-based Pfizer, according to the source.
Details about Read and D’Amelio’s involvement were earlier reported by the Financial Times. (Endpoints News is part of the FT Specialist group, but does not share reporting or content with the Financial Times.)
Starboard Value couldn’t be reached for comment. Pfizer declined to comment.
The fund’s activist stake follows Pfizer’s struggles to right itself after its success during the pandemic. Its share price $PFE has fallen by about half since reaching an all-time high roughly three years ago, driven by revenue from its Covid-19 products.
Unable to immediately replace those sales with acquisitions, Pfizer has announced three rounds of cost cuts over the last year, including a $3.5 billion set of reductions in October 2023 and a $1.5 billion plan disclosed in May. It also recently sold a $3.3 billion stake in Haleon, its joint consumer health business with GSK. And it has also made executive changes: Angela Hwang left her post as chief commercial officer earlier this year and CSO Mikael Dolsten is also on his way out.
Other efforts may take years to fully pay off, if they do. That includes the $43 billion acquisition of Seagen, which Pfizer has touted as a way to make itself a major player in cancer thanks to Seagen’s roster of antibody-drug conjugates.
A $5.4 billion purchase of Global Blood Therapeutics has been less successful, after Pfizer pulled the sickle cell drug at the center of the deal due to safety issues. And approved ulcerative colitis drug Velsipity, acquired in Pfizer’s purchase of Arena Pharmaceuticals, faces a competitive market with rivals like J&J’s Tremfya and AbbVie’s Rinvoq.
Starboard has its own mixed track record of winning fights against large pharmaceutical companies. It tried to throw a wrench in Bristol Myers Squibb’s $74 billion acquisition of Celgene back in 2019, but failed. Starboard did win five board seats at Perrigo in 2017, including two investors from the firm.