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Pfizer Covid Vaccine Sales Are Booming — and Should Keep on BoomingPfizer Covid Vaccine Sales Are Booming — and Should Keep on BoomingNathan-Kazis, Josh.Barron's (Online); New York Pfizer said it now expects revenue of approximately $33.5 billion in 2021 for its Covid-19 vaccine and that it had signed contracts to deliver 2.1 billion doses of the vaccine this year. That's up from the $26 billion in revenue that Pfizer (ticker: PFE) said in May it had contracted to deliver this year and keeps the vaccine on track to bring in more revenue in a single year than any other drug in history. The sales projection update comes as Pfizer advocates with U.S. regulators to authorize a booster dose of the vaccine in the U.S. In prepared remarks distributed by Pfizer ahead of an investor call scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, the company's chief scientific officer, Dr. Mikael Dolsten, said Pfizer continues to believe that a third dose of the vaccine may be necessary six to 12 months after the first two doses. Dolsten presented new data from a small laboratory study that showed that a third dose of the vaccine elicited neutralizing antibody levels when tested against the Delta variant that were more than 11 times higher in older adults than the levels elicited by two doses of the vaccine. "These preliminary data are very encouraging as Delta continues to spread," Dolsten said. The updates on Pfizer's vaccine were part of the company's second-quarter financial report. Pfizer reported adjusted diluted earnings of $1.07 per share and sales of $19 billion for the quarter, beating the FactSet consensus estimate of $0.97 per share and sales of $18.7 billion. Pfizer also increased its estimates for the full fiscal year, saying it now expects adjusted diluted earnings of between $3.95 and $4.05, up from its previous estimate of between $3.55 and $3.65. The new range is above the FactSet consensus estimate of $3.71 per share. Pfizer increased its revenue projections for the year, saying it expects revenue of between $78 billion and $80 billion, up from its previous projection of between $70.5 billion and $72.5 billion. Wall Street analysts currently expect $72.5 billion in sales, according to FactSet. Pfizer stock was up 1.6% in early Monday health trading. The stock is up 14.4% so far this year, trailing the S&P 500's 17.2% gain, as the company works to convince investors to buy into its relatively new identity as a pure-play biopharma firm. "The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine contributed $7.8 billion in global revenues during the second quarter, and we continue to sign agreements with governments around the world," Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, said in prepared remarks ahead of the company's conference call. Bourla said that a "significant amount" of the company's remaining Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity for 2021 will be sent to "middle- and low-income countries where we price in line with income levels or at a not-for-profit price." Bourla said that he remains highly confident that the company will achieve the 6% compound annual growth rate target through 2025 that it set as it prepared to spin off its old drugs division and become a pure-play biopharma stock, a transaction it completed in the fourth quarter of 2020. Bourla highlighted sales of its heart drug Vyndaqel, also known as Vyndamax, which saw revenue climb 77% operationally. Sales of the anticoagulant Eliquis were up 13%, while sales of its pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar 13 were up 34% in the U.S. Bourla said the increase in Prevnar 13 revenue was due largely to more patients seeking healthcare this quarter compared with the previous quarter last year when Covid-19 restrictions kept people out of doctors' offices. Chief scientific officer Dolsten, in his presentation, laid out the company's plans to develop messenger RNA-based vaccines and therapeutics. The Covid-19 vaccine, the first messenger RNA-based vaccine in the world to receive regulatory authorization, was designed by Pfizer's partner, BioNTech (BNTX). Dolsten said the company will first focus on prophylactic vaccines, and then work on therapeutic areas including rare disease and oncology. |
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