AP – Pfizer surprised Wall Street by predicting a bigger-than-expected sales drop this year for two key products: its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment.
The drugmaker also released on Tuesday an earnings forecast that starts off below analyst expectations as Pfizer begins what company leaders call a transition year for sales tied to the ongoing pandemic.
Pfizer expects revenue from both the vaccine Comirnaty and the treatment Paxlovid to tumble next year before starting to rebound.
That drop was anticipated by analysts as the drugmaker moves from supplying governments through big contracts to selling both products on the commercial market. The company said on Tuesday that it expects Comirnaty sales to tumble 64 per cent to about USD13.5 billion this year. It predicts a 58 per cent drop for Paxlovid to about USD8 billion.
That combined total of USD21.5 billion falls about USD3 billion short of what Wall Street expects from both products. Commercial sales of the vaccine and treatment are expected to start later this year in the US. While revenue from both will fall in 2023, analysts still expect the vaccine and treatment to each contribute billions of dollars in annual sales for the next several years.
Overall, Pfizer predicts that adjusted earnings will range between USD3.25 and USD3.45 per share in the new year, when it also expects research and development expenses to jump.
Analysts forecast earnings of USD4.34 per share, according to FactSet.
In the recently completed fourth quarter, Pfizer booked nearly half of its USD24.29 billion in revenue from the top-selling COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty. The company brought in another USD1.8 billion from Paxlovid.
Outside Comirnaty and Paxlovid, Pfizer also makes several primary care drugs and cancer treatments.
But vaccines have quickly become a key element of its business.
