Sector News

Pfizer, under pressure to change, names oncology head as new R&D chief

November 24, 2024
Life sciences

Boshoff currently serves as chief oncology officer and is credited with delivering 24 approved new medicines and biosimilars during his 11-year tenure at the company. Boshoff has also worked as Pfizer’s head of development in Japan and as chief development officer for oncology and rare disease.

“Dr. Boshoff is the ideal leader to propel Pfizer’s R&D engine forward and transform it into a world-leading organization with a more focused strategy,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in the company’s statement. He credited Boshoff with running one of the company’s most productive divisions and said he has a “compelling vision” for future research and development.

As the new head of research, Boshoff will be tasked with revving up a pipeline that some investors have found disappointing. Pfizer achieved an astonishing success developing a COVID-19 vaccine in a matter of months in 2020 and raked in billions of dollars during the pandemic, pushing its shares above $59 in late 2021. Since then, the stock has more than halved, however.

The activist investor Starboard Value argues that Pfizer executives wasted their COVID-19 windfall on bad acquisitions while neglecting innovation. Last month, Starboard pushed the company’s board “to hold management accountable for earning appropriate returns on R&D and M&A moving forward.” READ MORE

By Kristin Jensen

Source: biopharmadive.com

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