(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc <PFE.N> Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla sold $5.56 million worth of company shares on Monday, the day the drugmaker said its COVID-19 vaccine was 90% effective based on interim trial results, a regulatory filing showed.
Bourla authorized the sale of the shares on Aug. 19, provided the stock was at least at a certain price, as part of a predetermined plan, the company said.
Bourla sold 132,508 shares at $41.94 per share, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Tuesday. (https://bit.ly/3eQ0RPV)
“The sale of these shares is part of Dr. Bourla’s personal financial planning and a pre-established (10b5-1) plan, which allows, under SEC rules, major shareholders and insiders of exchange-listed corporations to trade a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined time,” Pfizer said.
Pfizer said on Monday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results, sending its shares higher along with the broader markets.
The company’s shares rose as much as 15% to trade at session high of $41.99 on Monday, before closing up 7.7%. They were trading at 38.75 on Wednesday.
Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE <22UAy.F> have said no serious safety concerns were found so far and expect to seek U.S. emergency use authorization this month, raising the chance of a regulatory decision as soon as December.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Shounak Dasgupta)
