Pfizer

Pfizer is the pharmaceutical company that best illustrates the revolving door between Big Pharma and the FDA. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb — who oversaw drug approvals during the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019 — now sits on Pfizer's board of directors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gottlieb appeared regularly on CNBC providing commentary on vaccine policy and pandemic response while simultaneously serving as a director of the company that manufactured the most widely used COVID vaccine. This dual role — media health expert and pharmaceutical company director — was rarely disclosed during his television appearances. The COVID-19 pandemic transformed Pfizer's financial and political position. The company's mRNA vaccine, developed in partnership with BioNTech, generated over $75 billion in revenue between 2021 and 2023, making it the most commercially successful pharmaceutical product in history. The federal government purchased billions of dollars' worth of vaccines and Paxlovid antiviral treatments through emergency contracts, with pricing negotiated under pandemic urgency conditions that favored the manufacturer. Pfizer's stock price doubled, and CEO Albert Bourla became one of the highest-paid pharmaceutical executives. Pfizer's lobbying operation reflects the industry's priorities. With $13 million in 2024 lobbying and 50 registered lobbyists — more than one per senator — the company focuses on fighting drug price negotiation, protecting patent exclusivity, maintaining favorable FDA approval timelines, and shaping vaccine policy. The Inflation Reduction Act's provision allowing Medicare to negotiate prices on 10 drugs beginning in 2026 directly threatens Pfizer's revenue model, and the company has joined industry lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the negotiation provision. The company has 20 documented revolving door connections with the FDA, creating a regulatory environment where the people writing drug approval rules and the people seeking approvals are drawn from the same professional community. Former FDA reviewers who join Pfizer bring knowledge of the agency's internal processes, priorities, and decision-making tendencies — information that gives Pfizer an advantage in structuring its applications and anticipating regulatory concerns. Pfizer's patent strategy — commonly called "patent evergreening" — involves making incremental modifications to existing drugs to extend patent protection and prevent generic competition. This practice keeps drug prices high long after the original innovation justifies monopoly pricing. Pfizer has filed hundreds of patents on existing drugs, creating "patent thickets" that generic manufacturers must navigate through expensive litigation. The company spent millions lobbying against legislation that would have limited evergreening, successfully protecting a strategy that costs consumers billions annually. Beyond COVID products, Pfizer's portfolio includes blockbuster drugs for cardiovascular disease, cancer, and immunology, each generating billions in revenue and each subject to the same patent protection and pricing strategies. The company's $30 billion in cumulative government contracts — primarily through vaccine purchases and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements — make it one of the largest recipients of federal healthcare spending.