Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla inflicts injury on his company — and all of pharma

It’s only February, but my pick for the Worst Biopharma CEO of 2025 has already been decided: Albert Bourla of Pfizer. 

Pfizer’s decision to hire Patrizia Cavazzoni, a former top drug regulator at the Food and Drug Administration, as its new chief medical officer is one of the dumbest, most damaging corporate screwups since the rollout of New Coke.

For months, the Make America Healthy Again movement and its titular leader, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who also happens to now run the Department of Health and Human Services — have castigated the pharma sector for its all-too-cozy relationship with the FDA, including its penchant for hiring former top FDA officials into lucrative executive positions once they leave government service. 

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