USA –Moderna has named Jorge Gomez, a senior executive at dental products maker Dentsply Sirona Inc, as its new chief financial officer, effective May 9.

Prior to joining Dentsply in 2019, Mr. Gomez worked for Cardinal Health Inc., a Dublin, Ohio-based drug distributor, for 13 years, most recently as CFO.

Mr. Gomez takes over for David Meline, who plans to retire but will continue to work with Moderna as a consultant during the transition.

Pfizer Inc. also appointed an outsider as chief financial officers as it seeks to deploy some of the cash generated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pfizer, announced that David Denton will take over as CFO on May 2. Mr. Denton has been the finance chief of Lowe’s Cos., a home-improvement retailer, since 2018.

Prior to that, he oversaw the finances of CVS Health Corp., a drugstore and health-care chain based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Mr. Denton takes over for long-serving CFO Frank D’Amelio, who announced his retirement in November.

Mr. D’Amelio, who became Pfizer’s finance chief in 2007, will remain with the company during the transition period.

Revenue boost

During the pandemic, both companies benefited from the sale of Covid-19 products. In February, Pfizer stated that strong demand for its vaccine, which it developed with partner BioNTech SE, and its antiviral pill Paxlovid could boost revenue to around US$100 billion by 2022.

Last year, the company generated US$81.3 billion in sales, a 95 percent increase over the previous year.

According to analysts, the company’s strong sales over the last year have provided it with a large cash cushion that the new CFO will have to deploy.

Pfizer had US$31.1 billion in cash, equivalents, and short-term investments on its balance sheet as of December 31, up from US$12.2 billion the previous year.

“With this windfall from Covid-related products, Pfizer needs to deploy a massive amount of capital,” said Damien Conover, an analyst with Morningstar Inc.

Acquisitions could be one way to deploy capital. The company announced last week that it would acquire ReViral Ltd., a privately held pharmaceutical company, for up to US$525 million if certain conditions are met.

During Mr. Denton’s tenure at CVS, the company announced its US$70 billion acquisition of the insurance company Aetna in 2018.

According to Louise Chen, an analyst at investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Mr. Denton will also have to communicate with investors about the future sales trajectory of Covid-related products if demand wanes in later stages of the pandemic.

Pfizer’s profit in 2021 was around US$22 billion, up from US$9.2 billion the previous year. Last month, the company announced that it would donate the profits from its Russian operations to humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.

It has not stated how much revenue or profit it made in Russia. Mr. Denton was not available for an interview on Monday, according to Pfizer.

Moderna’s financial position has also been strengthened by sales of its Covid-19 vaccine. Last year, the company generated US$18.5 billion in revenue, nearly all of which came from vaccines, up from US$803 million the previous year.

As of December 31, the company had US$17.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, which was nearly triple the amount it had a year earlier.

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