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Pharma CEO Sold Millions in Stock Before His Company Ruined J&J Shots, Says Report

Emergent BioSolutions’ stock price has hit the floor after it admitted that ruining some 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.

The stock price of drugmaker Emergent BioSolutions hit the floor after it admitted that some 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine were wrecked at one of its plants. But its chief executive, Robert Kramer, seems to have narrowly avoided taking a massive financial hit. According to The Washington Post, Kramer sold off more than $10 million worth of his stock in the company in January and early February— before the Johnson & Johnson debacle was disclosed in late March. If he sold those same stocks now, with Emergent’s slashed market price, the Post estimates that he would only raise around $5.5 million. Kramer’s sales were reportedly made as part of a trading plan agreed to in November. He didn’t comment on the Post’s story, but Emergent spokeswoman Nina DeLorenzo said the sale was planned well in advance of the vaccine production problems and added that “any insinuation of wrongdoing is without evidence or merit.”