Moderna, Pfizer chief commercial officers depart the same day: Dwindling vaccine sales?
The two pharmaceutical giants, both of which manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, on Tuesday announced shakeups of their executive staffs, as Pfizer unveiled its new oncology division with $43 billion purchase of Seagen.
Arpa Garay, the former chief commercial officer of Moderna, has left her role as the
company moves to “increase executive focus” on sales. Angela Hwang, chief commercial officer and global biopharma president of Pfizer, will depart after 27 years with the company. The move comes as Pfizer expects to close its $43 billion deal to buy cancer drugmaker Seagen later this week and plans to create a new oncology division that includes the acquisition early next year.
Both companies face declining revenue from COVID vaccine sales. Moderna said last month that it expects these sales to “hit a low point” in 2024, while Pfizer recently slashed expectations for its Comirnaty shot by $2 billion.
Moderna’s chief commercial officer out as company reorganizes
Garay, who was in her position for less than two years, will remain an employee through June 2024, the company said. Her exit from the role comes at a time when Moderna, which is looking to break even in 2026, is ramping up spending on research and development as weak sales of COVID vaccine weigh on stock performance. She leaves Moderna as the company prepares to launch its RSV vaccine in 2024 and promises to deliver “multiple products per year from 2025 forward.”
The company stuck to its full-year 2023 sales guidance of $6 billion to $8 billion on its latest quarterly call but said the low end is more realistic. Moderna also noted a $1.3 billion write-down for “excess and obsolete” COVID product. CEO Stéphane Bancel will lead sales and marketing in 2024, while President Stephen Hoge will take the reins on pipeline commercial strategy and medical affairs. Executives expect 2024 revenue to be around $4 billion.
“We made significant progress in 2023 and are excited about the year ahead as we focus on driving continued sales in 2024 and 2025,” Bancel said. “I am grateful for Arpa’s leadership and for her help in establishing a strong commercial foundation.”
Pfizer’s CCO steps down, as firm buys cancer drugmaker Seagen
Hwang’s departure comes as Pfizer reduces its headcount by thousands at multiple sites around the world in the wake of dwindling COVID vaccine sales. Pfizer also initiated other cost-cutting measures, including a $3.5 billion job and expense reduction. Aamir Malik, the current chief business innovation officer, will step into the new chief U.S. commercial officer role. Alexandre de Germay, a former 21-year company veteran, is returning as chief international commercial officer. The new structure takes effect on New Year’s Day, the company said.
The restructuring coincides with the company’s impending acquisition of Seagen. When the deal closes, Pfizer will gain a large commercial organization, multiple approved antibody-drug conjugates and a deeper pipeline of oncology medicines. Seagen is a U.S. biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative, empowered monoclonal antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. The company is the industry leader in antibody-drug conjugates, a technology designed to harness the targeting ability of monoclonal antibodies to deliver cell-killing agents directly to cancer cells.
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To fit the new drugmaker into the fold, Pfizer is creating the Pfizer Oncology Division, which will be led by chief oncology officer Chris Boshoff, who was named to the company during another leadership shuffle five months ago.
The deal comes amid a more scrutinized environment for biopharma deals. The Federal Trade Commission has tightened its grip on large acquisitions, such as an unsuccessful attempt at blocking Amgen’s $27.8 billion Horizon Therapeutics deal, but also early stage licensing deals, such a move on Monday that made waves across the industry as Sanofi dropped a pact with Maze Therapeutics after the agency threatened legal action.
Pfizer called out the FTC in its deal-closing announcement, saying that to address the commission’s concerns, it would “irrevocably donate the rights of royalties from sales of Bavencio (avelumab) in the United States to the American Association for Cancer Research.”