Mikael Dolsten, a longtime leader of drug R&D at one of the world’s biggest pharma giants, will depart his post as chief scientific officer at Pfizer, the company said Tuesday morning.
The 15-year Pfizer veteran will stay in his role until a successor joins the pharmaceutical conglomerate, and he will help in that search process, which will “probably” go “through early next year,” the company said.
His departure comes after a series of sweeping moves to Pfizer’s leadership team last summer in the wake of dwindling Covid-19 product sales, a mega-merger with Seagen to create an oncology powerhouse, and in the face of one of the worst pharma stock performances of 2023, which has led to multiple rounds of billion-dollar cost cuts.
Dolsten’s departure was described by a source familiar with the move as a mutual one. Pfizer is just at the beginning of the search process, according to the source, and it’s too early to say what profile they’ll seek. According to the press release, it will focus on external candidates.
Overseeing about 8,000 scientists, he’s been one of the highest-paid R&D leaders in the industry, averaging an annual pay package of just over $10 million over the past five years. Pfizer’s compensation committee approved a $9.3 million target pay package for 2024.
Pfizer’s C-suite has undergone several changes in the last year. Development chief William Pao departed last July, as Chris Boshoff became chief oncology R&D officer to oversee a broadened cancer pipeline with the Seagen consumption. Then in December, commercial chief and global biopharma president Angela Hwang left after a quarter-century at the company.
A long tenure
Dolsten joined Pfizer by way of its Wyeth acquisition in 2009, and over the years would climb to one of the world’s biggest drug R&D spenders, ranking No. 6 in 2023. He quickly took hold of the pipeline, leading R&D through Phase 2 and was elevated to chief scientific officer shortly thereafter. He also oversaw science that came from the outside, with multiple acquisitions that broadened the company’s scope and gave it medicines for sickle cell disease, migraine and other conditions.
More than 35 drug and vaccine approvals were granted to Pfizer during his tenure, the company said. That includes the pandemic-altering Covid-19 vaccine with BioNTech, helping launch the RSV vaccine landscape, and introducing multiple cancer medicines and inflammatory treatments, among other disease areas.
Albert Bourla“I want to thank Mikael for his incredible contributions, not only to Pfizer and the scientific community, but to the millions of patients he has impacted over the years,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. “Mikael is a distinguished scientist, physician, and leader, and his work will undoubtedly leave an important stamp on the legacy of this 175-year-old company.”
In a press release, Dolsten called it a “journey of a lifetime.” Prior to Wyeth, he was head of worldwide research for Boehringer Ingelheim and before that, the global VP of R&D at AstraZeneca at the turn of the century.
The R&D leader, in his mid-60s, did not say what his next move would be. But in a Tuesday morning LinkedIn post, he signaled that he wants to “contribute to the next wave of breakthroughs in exciting, new ways, working with the next generation of scientific leaders who are pushing the boundaries of science.”
Dolsten spoke about leading Pfizer’s R&D at an Endpoints News event on the sidelines of this year’s JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. “It’s almost like a coin with two sides,” Dolsten said at the event. “On one of the sides, it’s about experience, it’s about having learned what is the grammar of R&D. Yes, that gets easier by time, but you also realize that part of that is to find unique talents, and it’s only when you create that dream team that you can excel. On the other hand, you have to constantly push the boundaries and never get complacent.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated throughout with additional details. Drew Armstrong and Andrew Dunn contributed reporting.