The drugmaker said it posted revenue of $23.8 billion, missing Wall Street’s expectations of $24.1 billion. More than half of Pfizer’s total sales, $13.9 billion, came from its vaccines unit.
The company also reported net income of $3.4 billion, topping analysts’ forecasts. Pfizer said it expects $32 billion in sales this year from Comirnaty, the Covid vaccine. Still, that was below Wall Street’s expectations of nearly $34 billion. The company’s overall sales and profit guidance for 2022 also missed consensus estimates.
“In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, we committed to use all of the resources and expertise we had at our disposal to help protect populations globally against this deadly virus, as well as to offer treatments to help avoid the worst outcomes when infections do occur,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in the earnings release. “Now, less than two years since we made that commitment, we are proud to say that we have delivered both the first FDA-authorized vaccine against Covid-19 (with our partner, BioNTech) and the first FDA-authorized oral treatment for Covid-19.”
Typically, higher-income countries pay more for medications. But Bourla added that the US is getting “a very special price because of higher orders.” Bourla also noted that Pfizer has begun working with generic companies to make lower-priced versions of Paxlovid, a deal that could cover more than half of the world’s population.
Bourla is hoping that Pfizer will remain innovative.
During prepared remarks for the analyst conference call, Bourla said “colleagues across Pfizer are inspired by what we have achieved and more determined than ever to be part of the next potentially game-changing breakthrough.”
“To that end, we are applying the ‘lightspeed’ principles developed for our Covid-19 work to our other therapeutic areas to make sure we continue to move at the speed of science for the benefit of patients,” he added.