After eight years running Pfizer (PFE), Ian Read will step aside as chief executive officer on Jan. 1, and will be succeeded by Albert Bourla, who was named chief operating officer last year as part of what the company says was a planned transition.
The move comes as Pfizer faces a double whammy of a looming patent expiration on a big-selling drug and, more generally, pricing pressure. And while pricing pressure has been plaguing the pharmaceutical industry at large, this past summer, Read was briefly transformed into a poster child for the hot-button issue after Pfizer hiked prices on dozens of drugs. He later rolled back the increases after President Trump lambasted the move.
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