# Pfizer The New York pharma giant (founded 1849) whose COVID-19 vaccine — developed with BioNTech — made it simultaneously the most celebrated and most demonized drug company of the century. For this KB, Pfizer is the company around which the right's pharma politics inverted: the firm Trump's [[Operation Warp Speed]] apparatus showcased in 2020 became the [[Anti-Vax Movement]]'s chief villain by 2021 ("died suddenly" lore, Bourla as hate figure), and then Trump's first most-favored-nation dealmaker in 2025. ## COVID and Its Whiplash A nuance the vault should keep straight: Pfizer took **no OWS research money** — only a ~$1.95 billion advance-purchase agreement — a distinction it stressed at the time (partly to signal independence) and which the [[Trump White House]] blurred. CEO Albert Bourla's decision to announce efficacy results days *after* the 2020 election became a durable MAGA grievance, feeding the claim that Pfizer slow-walked the vaccine to hurt Trump. The episode is a key thread in [[COVID Response Politicization]]: the same product was simultaneously Trump's triumph and his movement's bioweapon. ## The Revolving Door and the Deal Pfizer's Washington operation is a [[Big Pharma]] archetype: former FDA Commissioner [[Scott Gottlieb]] joined its board within months of leaving the agency in 2019, and the company spent $7.8 million on lobbying in the first half of 2025 alone. The payoff structure became explicit on September 30, 2025, when Bourla stood beside Trump to announce the **first most-favored-nation deal**: MFN pricing for Medicaid and new drug launches, discounts averaging ~50% through the TrumpRx.gov platform, $70 billion in pledged U.S. manufacturing and R&D — in exchange for a **three-year exemption from the administration's [[Section 232]] pharmaceutical tariffs** (set at 100% for non-compliant importers). Tariff-relief-for-price-theater is the template the rest of the cohort followed — full timeline at [[Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing Deals]]. ## Connections - [[Scott Gottlieb]] — FDA→board revolving door - [[Operation Warp Speed]] — The vaccine showcase; purchase-agreement nuance - [[COVID Response Politicization]] / [[Anti-Vax Movement]] — The backlash machinery - [[Big Pharma]] / [[PhRMA]] — Hub and trade association - [[Donald Trump]] — September 2025 MFN deal and TrumpRx