Former Pfizer CEO, CFO said they will not be involved in Starboard’s campaign against the drugmaker

(Reuters) – Former Pfizer CEO Ian Read and former CFO Frank D’Amelio said they would not be involved with activist investor Starboard Value, which wants the U.S. drug giant to make changes to turn around its performance.

“We have decided not to be involved in Starboard Value’s efforts with respect to Pfizer,” the executives said in a statement Wednesday, which was issued by Guggenheim Partners, an adviser to Pfizer.

“We fully support Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla, senior management and the board, and we are confident that they will deliver shareholder value over time.”

Sources previously told Reuters that Starboard had approached Read and D’Amelio and that both had expressed interest in helping the activist investor after he acquired a roughly $1 billion stake in Pfizer.

Pfizer and Starboard did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Bourla and Shantanu Narayen, Pfizer’s lead independent director, will hold talks with Starboard CEO Jeff Smith and Patrick Sullivan, who heads its healthcare investments, next week, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Pfizer shares have fallen more than 9 percent over the past year and are trading at about half of their pandemic-era highs as sales of its COVID-19 products decline.

The drugmaker has struggled to find a product to make up for lost revenue from the COVID vaccine and pill.

Pfizer has spent about $70 billion since 2020 on acquisitions, including its $43 billion acquisition of Seagen last year, as it launched cost-saving initiatives.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)