Pfizer and Novartis post profits that beat Covid-19 hospital disruptions

Pfizer reported quarterly earnings that beat estimates, helped by better-than-expected sales of its cancer drug Ibrance

Tue, 27 Oct, 2020 - 09:38

Drugmaker Pfizer said it was not yet ready to release data from the late-stage trial of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate it is developing with Germany's BioNTech.

It comes as Pfizer and rival Novartis both reported sales of conventional drugs that have been disrupted by the Covid crisis.

Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla has said the company could release data on whether or not the vaccine works as early as this month, but the company said in a presentation that the independent data monitoring board which will determine whether or not the trial has been successful has not conducted any interim efficacy analyses yet.

In Ireland, Pfizer employs 3,700 people at six facilities, including Little Island and Ringaskiddy in Cork; Grange Castle, Citywest, and Ringsend in Dublin; as well as at Newbridge in Kildare.

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Pfizer reported quarterly earnings that beat estimates, helped by better-than-expected sales of its cancer drug Ibrance. Overall sales fell 4.3% in the third quarter, hurt by a plunge in sales of its off-patent pain drug Lyrica and a $500m (€423m) hit to sales from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sales of cancer drug Ibrance grew 6% to $1.36bn, despite increased competition from Eli Lilly.

Meanwhile, Novartis outlook for the year has improved as the drugmaker’s new products, including a gene therapy that sells for $2.1m, help counter disruption from Covid-19.

In Ireland, the Swiss firm employs around 1,200 people at a manufacturing and development facility in Ringaskiddy in Cork and at a global service centre in south Dublin.

Earnings excluding some items will likely increase by a low-double-digit to mid-teens percentage in 2020, the drugmaker said. A heart drug, psoriasis treatment, and the Zolgensma gene therapy that was approved in the US last year are helping Novartis grapple with changing patterns in hospital admissions that have delayed care for cancer and other conditions.

“We’re on track to finish the year strongly,” chief executive Vas Narasimhan told reporters.