Nicolai Tangen meets Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla for a wide-ranging conversation on leadership, science, and the future of global healthcare. Bourla reflects on leading Pfizer through the COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough and how it transformed the company. The discussion also dives into Pfizer’s strategic shift toward innovative medicine, including major investments in oncology and obesity, and the high-stakes decisions behind multibillion-dollar acquisitions. Looking ahead, the conversation explores how artificial intelligence is set to transform drug discovery, clinical trials, and the broader healthcare system. Bourla offers a candid view on global competition, particularly the rapid rise of China in biotech, and what it will take for companies like Pfizer to stay ahead. Beyond business, Bourla opens up about leadership, how to build resilience, foster organizational confidence, and continuously evolve as a CEO. He also shares a deeply personal story about his mother, a Holocaust survivor, and how her perspective shaped his optimism and drive. In Good Company is hosted by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management. New full episodes every Wednesday, and don&#x27;t miss our Highlight episodes every Friday. The production team for this episode includes Isabelle Karlsson and PLAN-B&#x27;s Niklas Figenschau Johansen, Sebastian Langvik-Hansen and Pål Huuse. Background research was conducted by Isabelle Karlsson. Watch the episode on YouTube: Norges Bank Investment Management - YouTube Want to learn more about the fund? The fund | Norges Bank Investment Management (nbim.no) Follow Nicolai Tangen on LinkedIn: Nicolai Tangen | LinkedIn Follow NBIM on LinkedIn: Norges Bank Investment Management: Administrator for bedriftsside | LinkedIn Follow NBIM on Instagram: Explore Norges Bank Investment Management on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pfizer CEO: Transforming Drug Discovery, Lessons from China and Leading with Optimism

In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen

## Transcript

[SPEAKER_A] Hi everyone, and welcome to In Good Company. I'm Nicolai Tangen, the head of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. And today I'm in particularly good company because I'm here with Albert Bourla, who is the chairman and CEO of Pfizer, one of the largest pharma companies in the world. Now, Albert, he has been with Pfizer for 30 years, been CEO since 2019, and has led the company through a remarkable period of change. Warm welcome.

[SPEAKER_B] Thank you very much. And you know, I'm with Pfizer 33 years.

[SPEAKER_A] 33 years?

[SPEAKER_B] I'm with my wife 30. All right.

[SPEAKER_A] I got it mixed up there.

[SPEAKER_B] Yes.

[SPEAKER_A] Yes. Now, a lot of stuff has happened since you took over as CEO. What are you most excited about just now?

[SPEAKER_B] I think I'm always excited by the future, like all CEOs, right? They see the opportunities ahead. And science is at the highest levels we ever had it. And science is affecting our business very big time. So I'm very, very optimistic about the scientific progress that we can see in the next years until the end of the decade.

[SPEAKER_A] You sharpened the focus on innovative medicine, sold off consumer healthcare and so on. Why did you think that was the right decision to make?

[SPEAKER_B] I'm a believer that corporations' role is not to hedge. It is to be very good at a few things. Investors' role is to head. So I believe that requires different culture for a scientific company and different culture for a consumer company and very different culture for an off-patent generic company. So I felt that we should choose to be good at what is really important. And that was science.

[SPEAKER_A] Now, we're not going to spend much time on COVID, but we have to just touch on the fact that you did an unbelievable job, put a a huge amount of your own capital in there and produced a vaccine in 8 months. Just how was that possible?

[SPEAKER_B] Well, you know, it was possible for several reasons. But the most important is it was exceptional times. So everybody felt that this is not business as usual. And everybody felt that the culture of society, our civilization, it's at risk. So everybody gave everything. And when I say everybody, I mean the government, I mean our people, I mean our hospitals that collaborated. So it was not easy to be done without them being aligned.

[SPEAKER_A] Why don't we continue to work this way? At full speed?

[SPEAKER_B] Because we don't have this big need that is driving people's behaviors and they have the tendency to go back to the old habits. I have seen that with regulators that after being extremely instrumental in being able to achieve what we achieved, they became back to more conservative. I have seen that with the government operations that were opening the ways to us to be able to accomplish what we accomplished. And now they are back to the normal trend. So I'm Unfortuna...

Pfizer CEO: Transforming Drug Discovery, Lessons from China and Leading with Optimism

Transcript

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Pfizer CEO: Transforming Drug Discovery, Lessons from China and Leading with Optimism

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.