Based in particular on strong demand outside the United States, the American pharmaceutical group Pfizer revised upwards its annual revenue estimates for Comirnaty, its vaccine against the coronavirus, on Tuesday.
The company now plans to sell this year for $ 36 billion of the serum it is developing in partnership with the German biotech BioNTech, against $ 33.5 billion in its previous forecasts.
Vaccines at cost
“More than 75% of the increase in revenue linked to Comirnaty in the third quarter of 2021 comes from countries outside the United States,” said Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, quoted in the group’s quarterly results release.
“We are on track to achieve our goal of delivering at least 2 billion doses to low and middle income countries by the end of 2022,” he added, adding that half of these doses would be sold to the US government at cost price for distribution to the poorest countries on the planet. Over the year as a whole, Pfizer plans to deliver 2.3 billion vaccines worldwide.
More than 24 billion euros in turnover in three months
At the end of October, the United States Medicines Agency (FDA) authorized the Comirnaty for 5-11 year olds, paving the way for a new major immunization campaign in the country. A committee of experts from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) is meeting on Tuesday to decide whether or not to recommend the vaccine for younger people.
From July to September, Pfizer achieved sales of $ 24.1 billion, more than the $ 22.7 billion expected by Wall Street. The vaccine alone has brought in nearly $ 13 billion. The group’s net profit over this period is $ 8.15 billion. Reported per share and excluding exceptional items, the benchmark on Wall Street, earnings are $ 1.34, better than the $ 1.06 expected by the market. Pfizer stock climbed nearly 4% in transactions leading up to the Wall Street opening.