m

Drug execs sold $500M in stock last year amid COVID-19 vaccine advancements

Top leaders at 13 drug companies including Pfizer and Moderna sold 8.5 million shares valued at about $496 million last year as COVID-19 vaccine advancements increased stock values, The Wall Street Journal reports

Executives at Moderna, which made one of the two vaccines approved for use in the U.S., sold $321 million of their stock in more than 700 transactions. At Merck, executives sold $58 million of their shares and at Novarax they sold $40 million of their shares.

For comparison, executives at the same 13 companies sold 4.7 million shares worth $132 million in 2019, according to Kaleidoscope, a research consulting firm.

Experts in corporate compensation say these sales are permitted as long as they adhere to insider trader rules and represent a shift to combine company stock with executive compensation to tie pay and performance, reports WSJ.

Copyright © 2025 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.


You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For more information, please review our Privacy Policy
.
 

Articles We Think You'll Like