Pfizer sticks to targets for sales of its Covid vaccines and pills this year

Pfizer shares have slid 18% since the start of the year, underperforming the broader sector

Tue, 03 May, 2022 - 15:19

Riley Griffin

Pfizer kept its outlook for annual sales of its Covid-19 vaccine and treatment, disappointing investors who looked for the products to continue driving growth.

While Pfizer has dominated the global market for Covid vaccines, concern remains that demand is tapering off due to excess supply. Last month, Johnson & Johnson suspended its own Covid vaccine forecast, citing a global surplus in shots.

Through mid-April, Pfizer said it has clinched $32bn (€30.4bn) in 2022 contracts for the shot, Comirnaty, and $22bn for its Covid pill, Paxlovid, the same figures it released three months ago. Analysts had estimated about $34bn in annual sales from Comirnaty, which the company makes in partnership with BioNTech, and $27bn in Paxlovid sales.

Pfizer shares fell slightly in the session but have slid 18% since the start of the year, underperforming the broader sector.

The New York-based drugmaker also left untouched its forecast for overall full-year revenue of $98bn to $102bn. Though investors are hoping that the market for Covid-fighting products will continue to expand, Pfizer’s shot and pill already account for more than half that forecast, as well as more than half its quarterly revenue.

Pfizer generated $25.7bn in first-quarter sales, $13.2bn of which came from Comirnaty. More than 80% of the shot’s sales came from outside the US.

Paxlovid sold $1.5bn in the quarter, missing analysts’ $2.4bn estimate, with the vast majority of revenue coming from the US. Pfizer said it has produced 8 million courses of Paxlovid to date and shipped all of the supply of the treatment.

Meanwhile, Biogen's chief executive Michel Vounatsos is stepping down, at a time the drugmaker is grappling with US Medicare restricting coverage for its Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm to patients in clinical trials.