Pfizer CEO Gives Update on Operations After Tornado Damages North Carolina Plant Transcript

All right. Well, welcome, everyone. Thank you so much for being here at Pfizer’s Rocky Mount, North Carolina site. My name is Mike McDermott, and I have the joy of overseeing manufacturing quality and distribution for Pfizer globally. I’d like to start today’s discussion by acknowledging our 3,200 unbelievably talented colleagues and contractors that work at this site each and every day. They carry on an amazing legacy of 55 years of this site producing high quality sterile injectables for the U.S. hospital system and for countries around the world. So I couldn’t be more thrilled for the work that they do every day. I also want to, of course, thank the emergency responders that have jumped to the need here in Nash County, in Rocky Mount and here at the Pfizer location. You all do amazing work every day.

(01:02)
You put your lives at risk to help others and we’re so grateful that you’re here helping us today and for the days to come. Of course, I’m thrilled to welcome and thank all the elected officials from local, county, state, federal government that has reached out to us over the current days and coming days to support us in any way we can. We’re incredibly lucky to be located here in North Carolina where we have a rich source of talent, we have incredible infrastructure and we have the best support that we could imagine. We’re going to lean on those friendships and partnerships and support over the coming months as we look forward to making the repairs to this facility and beginning production as soon as possible. So with that, I’m thrilled to introduce our CEO, Albert Bourla. Albert?

Thank you. Thank you, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. A devastating tornado touched down here in the community of Rocky Mount in North Carolina, a town of more than 50,000 hardworking people and town where we have one of our best facilities here in the U.S. with more than 3,200 local people working, as Mike said, day in and day out. I start by saying thank God, thankfully our warning system worked well and none of these 3,200 people that work there was injured, or of course, seriously injured in the facility. They were able to go to shelter. The system worked very well, and we are very fortunate not to worry about human being here. Also, we are very inspired to see how this community is pulling together. I spoke with a lot of people, and they’re pulling together to pick up the pieces and move forward with their lives after something very important happening here. I’m here today with some of our team members to lead our efforts and to speak and understand and assess the situation.

(03:06)
We are dealing with a big disaster here in terms of damages, but our team has performed heroic attacks. For example, during the pandemic, this is the team that their ingenuity and hard work along with the most advanced science allowed them to ramp up productions five, seven times so that they will meet the demand of the people that were going to the hospitals at that time because of COVID. They are the same people that did this, and they’re the same people, but now are asked to come back and rebuild what nature destroyed so that no American will feel the lack of a medicine or a lifesaving medicine in the hospitals because they are needing them. We are committed to do all we can to help first of all our colleagues, this site, and let me start some of the details of what we are doing. When we start with our colleagues that we are supporting our local colleagues and we have made a commitment to pay everyone through the duration of the site’s closure whether if they work or not.

(04:17)
We also have several assistance programs in place, including wellness staff and disaster recovery services for all our employees. Second, of course, we want to support the community. We are making financial donations to two organizations here, the American Red Cross of North Carolina and United Way Tar River region. We have also put in place one-to-one matching donation programs for colleagues around the world to support these organizations and then Pfizer will match everything that they will contribute in addition to what we are giving directly. Now let me focus on what we’re doing to get this site up and running as quickly as possible. This is a very, very important site. 90% of the production of this site is utilized in the United States, so it’s a very, very highly useful and important facility for the U.S. healthcare system.

(05:15)
8% of the steroid injectable medicines that are used in U.S. hospital in the country, including critical anesthesia, analgesia therapeutics, anti-infectives, neuromuscular, et cetera, are coming from here. So we have a monumental task in front of us to make sure that we will bring back to normality everything so that people will not feel the pain because of the lack of important medicines. We have been in very close conduct with state, local and federal officials. Many of whom are with us today and we also working in close coordination with the FDA. I spoke several times with the commissioner myself, and we keep talking about it. I want to thank her for their partnership. I spoke with the governor, and he’s sorry he can’t be here in person to today, but he has offered all the support we need so that we can turn these things around.

(06:16)
There are crews right now on site working to restore power. It’s extremely important for a manufacturing site like that and to know that without power you can maintain the right temperatures in these buildings, which are extremely important to be able to maintain what they’re built to do, to fill in sterile way. It’s extremely important to be able to restore that. Also, we have engineers that they are now assessing the structure integrity of the buildings. It appears that most of the damage is sustained at the site where was our warehouse. So the facilities that are producing doesn’t seem that they have suffered any damage as a result of the hurricane. The issue over there would be that there is in manufacturing sites like them, you cannot turn on and off the switch like that. If the switch is off because you’re forced because power is out, you need time to be able to get things up and running.

(07:15)
This time is not in days, it’s in weeks, but we were starting now, immediately. Currently, we do not believe that there has been any main damage to our production side. Now, the warehouse where it was almost completely destroyed, at least the part, not the safety vault, but at least the main warehouse, stores raw materials that are needed so that we can produce supplies, for example, vials, syringes that are needed so that we can produce the goods, finished medicines that are waiting here. Quality release after we finished our manufacturing of these products, we don’t send them to patients before we complete a set of quality tests. So as they were waiting for the release of these tests, unfortunately, hurricane hit and they were destroyed. Of course, we are moving full speed to bring this manufacturing plant into action again. But we are exploring alternative manufacturing locations, including here, our facility in Sanford, in North Carolina while this site is still ramping up their production.

(08:28)
Look, I have to say that clearly nature is strong, it’s powerful, but so too is human engineering and human spirit, and a great deal of work needs to be done here. But I want to assure all that we are committed. We will do it. We will bring things back to order, and we are working in lockstep with many of you here today. I want to thank you for the support that you offer, and I’m sure we will receive as we are every day receiving when we need you. So with that, let me close by thanking our colleagues here for their resilience, and let me assure you that we will do all we can to support you in your time of need. I would like to invite few of our guests to say a few words starting with Representative Davis, please. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Dr. Bourla, and to this community. We have the mayor and members of the mayoral team, the city team that’s here, two former colleagues of the general assembly. Also, we have cabinet members that are here today. Thank you for being here, secretary, post secretaries and the attorney general. I would say when I look I around and think about the Pfizer family, wow, they’re resilient. When I heard about the weather conditions the other day and the devastation here at Pfizer, my heart immediately went out to the families. We are grateful there were no fatalities. Thank God for the first responders and the local officials who have led the way. My thoughts and prayers remain with the Pfizer team, the employees and their families and others too in this city while we are here that have been impacted. I was here just a few weeks ago speaking to business owners, trying to see how we could help. Mike, we were in the office talking about coming here to Pfizer and looking at how we could help continue to position Pfizer.

(11:20)
I would not have imagined that we’ll be returning this soon in this way. So please know that I will do everything within my power to assist because the success of our businesses, the success of Pfizer is crucial to Eastern North Carolina’s future. We are resilient and we will help restore this facility as quickly as possible, and I’m committed to working with our federal, state, and local partners to do just that. As cleanup is upon us, I understand the vital role Pfizer plays not only in this community, but across Eastern North Carolina, our state, America, and this world. Dr. Bourla, please continue to let me know what your needs are so that we can help as quickly as possible. I’m not just here today, but please know that I will continue to be with you in support. May God bless you, this community, and at this time, I recognize our State Commerce Secretary, Machelle Sanders.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for being here today. It’s an unfortunate time, but yet, it is a time to reflect and focus on the strength of North Carolina and the strength of an industry that truly has saved lives, continues to save lives and change lives. Yesterday, Secretary Buffaloe and I were in the community. We visited homeowners and those who have been impacted by this storm, and our hearts and prayers go out to them. The administration, Governor Cooper’s administration stands ready to assist and help however we can. We have engaged within commerce. We have engaged with the local workforce boards, our workforce solutions group and our employment security stands ready if needed to help as we all go through this time.

(13:38)
North Carolina is recognized for its collaboration and its partnership and its strong and I would say resilient spirit in the face of devastation by nature. Whether it’s a hurricane or a tornado, our general assembly, our other elected officials with the governor’s leadership, we have joined together and have been through and have come through a lot. So there is a proven track record at Pfizer and in North Carolina that we will get through this as well. To those families and communities that you serve here and around the world, I believe based on my experience in industry, which is about over 32 years running a manufacturing plant, that this facility will get back online. These talented individuals are committed to the mission of saving lives and having an uninterrupted supply of quality products for patients around the world.

(14:40)
I also believe that by being the centerpiece of this community, surrounded by so many people and partners who are willing, able and committed to helping this facility get back online operational and back into the commercial markets of products being manufactured here, that this at the end of this will be another success story, not only for this community and this state, but for our nation as we continue to supply products to patients. I also want to thank colleagues here in the economic development community. I see Mr. Tolson and our chamber president here, thank you so much for being a part of this. You matter to the state, the jobs matter to the families and the community in this state and you surely matter to our future, so I am pleased to be here today. Governor Cooper, I know, will be visiting and has spoken with you.

(15:42)
Of course, his leadership, the state knows very well that he is not only there for us in the good times, but he is always that same leader who stands and leads us to a greater place, if you will, even in the tough times such as this. So we’re fortunate for that. So thank you very much. Thank you for your continued contributions to this community and to the state. Our prayers are with the families of those who have been impacted, those who don’t have shelter, who don’t have power and electricity, and those who were honestly already on the breaking point of a devastating time within their community and within their families for other reasons. Don’t think that this will break you because you have all of us and many others to help you move through this difficult time. Thank you very much for the opportunity, and we look forward to continuing to partner with you. At this time, I’m going to leave it with the City Manager, Mr. Keith Rogers.

Thank you so much. Well, good afternoon, everyone. Even in the times such as this, it’s still a pleasure to be with all of our local leaders and representatives. The city’s message from Rocky Mount has been concise and simple, but clear: we are here to serve. So to our Pfizer family, we stand prepared and ready to assist in whatever recovery efforts are needed to ensure that the plan is up and running as quickly as possible. In the interim, anything that we can do to assist your operations and assist in that recovery, we are certainly prepared to do so. Again, as always, our thoughts and our prayers are with all those that have been impacted by the events this week, and we look forward to a successful reopening of our facilities and getting through this together. So thank you. At this time, it’s my pleasure to introduce our Senator, Ms. Lisa Barnes. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Good afternoon, everyone. Dr. Bourla, it’s so nice to have you here. Welcome to North Carolina, although it’s not in the best of circumstances right now, but Senator Berger sends his apologies for not being able to be here today, but we would both like to just express our utmost support and appreciation to Pfizer for being here in Rocky Mount and for the valuable input and contributions that you make to our local and our state economies. We are so grateful for the employment opportunities for over 2,000 people here in our area, and those employees play a vital role in the manufacturing of these very important pharmaceutical products here. We are grateful that there were no fatalities, but at the same time, we recognize the extensive damage here and that the North Carolina General Assembly stands ready and able to assist in the recovery efforts and process in any way that we can. So thank you again to all the first responders, and our prayers are with all of the people who are impacted here. Thank you. Could you take this?

Mr. McDermott?

Well, thank you all so much. We’re going to conclude, Amy, with some Q&A, yes, that I’ll ask Amy Rose to coordinate for us, so thank you.

Thank you. Let me add my thank you. I’m very grateful for all of you to come out this afternoon. We just have a very few minutes. We’re sensitive to the heat, also the burden on the site, they have a lot of work to get back to. But we are going to allow members of the media to ask one question when they can pose it to our speakers about the damage, the current situation or the planned recovery efforts. So Steve, could I call on you first?

Steve Sbraccia, CBS 17 out of Raleigh. Logistically, how difficult is it going to be to try and shift the manufacturing to other facilities and able to get those medicines done? Also, if you start shifting to other facilities, does that mean other medicines may not have to be made or are we making this up [inaudible 00:20:17]

I think all of the above reflect the complexity of the situation. It’s not easy to transfer. There is, if I remember, 20% of our products that already are manufactured in other places. So for that, it’s easy. We will increase manufacturing in the other places while we are ramping up here. The warehousing which is destroyed, I think we will find plenty of warehousing around that we can rent, so that will not be a problem. I think the major issue it is first of all, to assess the situation, to be able to restart the facilities. That will take weeks even in the absence of structural damages, as I said, because we need to maintain the sterile nature of these operations. Then, of course, to find all the materials and to purchase the materials that were destroyed because you need glasses, for example, to vials to be able to pack. So you want to add something on that, Mike?

The only thing I would add is all our suppliers have been contacted. All the materials that were in the warehouse have already been reordered. We’ve had incredible support from the industry, from other industry partners, from our suppliers. We’re confident that we have the goods flowing in again as quickly as possible.

The stuff that was destroyed, is that considered a biohazard?

It is not. The materials that are contained within the building right now are safe and secure, and we don’t have any concerns in terms of their toxicity. Yep.

Thanks, Steve. Mark, can I call on you next?

Matt Talhelm with WRAL in Raleigh. What specific medicines are in that facility and what kind of [inaudible 00:22:01] could you expect on those kind of drugs?

Yeah, we are assessing the situation. I don’t think that we know right now what type of circumstance we may have. Right now, there are at least six weeks of inventory out there in the channel. So I don’t think we’ll see anything in the next, let’s say few weeks. What type of medicines here? We have analgesics, we have anesthetics, we have anti-infectives. What else we have, vitamins?

Vitamins. Micronutrients.

Yeah, micronutrients, so these type of medicines. Of course, we have a very big part of the emergency kit in the emergency rooms, in the carts that exist in every emergency room right there in the U.S., a lot of injectables that they’re having over there are made here. So that’s why, as I said, our number, number one priority is to ensure that we will minimize supply disruptors for these medicines because they are important and they save lives. So that’s why we are trying to do anything we can in our power to make things come back to normality fast.

Okay, thank you. Brian, how about you next?

Brian Gordon with the Observer. Going off that last question a little bit, are there any drugs to your knowledge that are made here exclusively that hospitals would solely [inaudible 00:23:28]

There are several medicines that are made here exclusively and there are not made otherwise in the Pfizer network. I’m not sure if there are some that are not made by other manufacturers, right, Mike?

Yeah, the good news is that, of course, we have other manufacturers that work in this space. So none of the products made here are proprietary, so other manufacturers participate in the open environment here in the U.S. So it’s really looking at the products we make here, the products that have inventory, the products that are made by other manufacturers, and as Albert said, the products that could be made at other locations. So all of these are in play for us, and of course, working with the FDA in particularly if we need any support with getting other locations running. So these are the steps that we’ll take over the coming days and weeks to ensure supply of medicines to patients.

Clearly, the prioritization that happens in cases like that, and particularly from us, it is always we try to understand where we have the highest risk to have a product that it is out of supply that can create serious health issues. Then we go with them first to try to find solutions and then slowly, slowly and gradually, we expand to have the full manufacturing capacity up and running.

Thank you. So we just have one last one, and we have Elaina from ABC.

Yes, I know we’re very early on and [inaudible 00:24:50] now, do you have any idea any timeframe or how long it might before the facility’s back online or what financial costs might be? Are we talking millions, billions of dollars worth of damage here?

I asked the question of when we can have these facilities up and running, and as Mike very prudently told me we need to assess where the situation is a serious answer. So that affects a lot of public health. So we need to make very, very careful assessment and we will answer it when we have. In terms of how much it costs, I don’t know, and I don’t care. This is not at all right now one of the variables. The only variable it is that the corporate reputation of Pfizer is so important, I don’t want anyone to feel that we didn’t do everything we could to bring medicines that are life-saving to people humanely possible, so it’s irrelevant.

Thank you, everyone. So that concludes today’s program. Once again, we’re very grateful for everyone’s time this afternoon, and if you do have any questions or needs after this afternoon, please feel free to be in contact with your Pfizer representative or point of contact. Happy to be working with you to really bring this plant back to where it was and even beyond. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you [inaudible 00:26:21] that was very, very-