How Pfizer’s CEO flew under the political radar with price hikes — until he tangled with Trump

JULY 13, 2018

ILLUSTRATION: DOM SMITH/STAT; PHOTO: CARL COURT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Pfizer CEO Ian Read is something of a somber figure, according people familiar with him, a company lifer who prefers to stay out of the spotlight while pulling the strings for the nation's largest drug maker.

And so his tangle with President Trump this week forced him into uncomfortable territory, working to keep Pfizer from becoming the poster child for high drug prices while facing the difficult reality that his company has struggled to grow without them.

As STAT's Ed Silverman and Kate Sheridan report, Read has built a reputation as a no-nonsense numbers guy on his path to running Pfizer. But the changing winds of politics have seen him make decisions "that defy the first rule of running a company," a former Pfizer executive said, "and that is you don’t want to be on front page of the morning paper."

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