![]() “The moment that data is processed and reported to management, they basically have to put out a press release, irrespective of politics,” said Umer Raffat, an analyst at investment bank Evercore ISI. Pfizer remains in close communication with the White House about its progress toward a Covid-19 vaccine.īourla in recent weeks has spoken directly with Trump, who has consistently urged drug makers to move faster in their race toward a viable vaccine, administration officials said.Īnd on Wall Street, analysts closely monitoring Pfizer’s progress widely believe the structure of its clinical trials will inevitably lead to a late October announcement that it’s found a working vaccine. Yet the company has also resisted calls to admit there’s too little time to secure an official authorization before Election Day. “We would never succumb to political pressure.” ![]() Presidential election,” Bourla wrote in a memo to staff this month. “Now, we are approaching our goal and despite not having any political considerations with our pre-announced date, we find ourselves in the crucible of the U.S. In addition to working behind the scenes to shore up alliances in the public health community, Pfizer has gone to lengths publicly to distance itself from the presidential race - branding its efforts as moving solely at the “speed of science” and insisting it won’t be influenced by competing political pressures to rush a vaccine before the election, or delay it until afterward. “They could’ve just written me off, but they actually reached out, and I give them credit for that.” “They want to have the medical community be supportive of their program,” Topol said of Pfizer’s efforts. Pfizer has also set up a one-on-one briefing between Bourla and Ezekiel Emanuel, an adviser to Joe Biden, after he organized a widely circulated letter urging the company to hold off on seeking any vaccine authorization until “at least late November.” The drug maker’s top scientists met last week with Eric Topol, a well-known cardiologist and public health expert who has criticized the company’s vaccine plans in op-eds and on Twitter. It’s against that backdrop that Pfizer is attempting to convince top health experts that it’s not skimping on safety - and that its record-fast progress developing a vaccine has been driven purely by science, rather than a desire to deliver on Trump’s demands. “I think we should have it before the election, but frankly the politics gets involved,” Trump said this week, expressing frustration over the FDA’s emergency authorization process.
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