Pfizer shares slump 7% as pandemic product sales fizzle

US drugmaker employs 4,000 people between Kildare, Dublin, and Ringaskiddy and has in the recent past indicated the facilities are safe despite some shrinkage of staff numbers

Pfizer raised its global cost-cutting target by $500m.

Pfizer forecast 2024 sales that could be as much as $5bn (€4.6bn) below expectations, a move top executives said provided a more reliable view of its covid business than it had this year, driving shares down 7% to a 10-year low.

Pfizer's covid vaccines and treatments revenues, which peaked at $57bn, are now expected to be $8bn in 2024. That compares to the $13bn analysts had foreseen and is down from Pfizer's lowered forecast for $12.5bn in 2023. 

The company, which employs 4,000 people in Ireland between its Kildare, Dublin, and Ringaskiddy sites, has in the recent past indicated the facilities here are safe despite some shrinkage of staff numbers at Newbridge. 

However, on Wednesday, it also raised its global cost-cutting target by $500m. It is now looking to save at least $4bn annually by the end of 2024.

"We want to be conservative," Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said on a conference call with investors. "We want to be reliable so we won't create uncertainty [again], which was the case, unfortunately, this year." 

The drugmaker's shares, already down more than 44% this so far this year, fell sharply and were set to erase over $14bn in market capitalisation. Shares of Moderna and Pfizer's German partner in the vaccine, BioNTech, fell 5% each.

The lower forecasts come a day after the drugmaker said it would reorganise its cancer division to include the acquisition of Seagen. The US drugmaker expects annual revenue in the range of $58.5bn to $61.5bn.

The covid vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid helped Pfizer bring in over $100bn in revenue in 2022. The covid sales targets "likely represent a floor for 2024 sales", said JP Morgan analyst Chris Schott. 

• Reuters. Additional reporting Irish Examiner