We’re seeing victory laps these days during the Summer Olympic Games. Now it’s Pfizer’s turn.
Three months after estimating 2021 revenues for its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty would reach a whopping $26 billion, Pfizer has jacked up its estimate by an additional $7.5 billion.
The company now predicts 2021 sales of $33.5 billion for its BioNTech-partnered mRNA shot as it enters another stratosphere among the most lucrative pharmaceutical products in history.
Pfizer’s revised estimate comes along with its second quarter earnings report. Based on contracts the company has signed through mid-July, Pfizer and BioNTech now expect to deliver 2.1 billion doses of Comirnaty worldwide this year and manufacture 3 billion.
“The second quarter was remarkable in a number of ways,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a release. “Most visibly, the speed and efficiency of our efforts with BioNTech to help vaccinate the world against COVID-19 have been unprecedented, with now more than a billion doses of BNT162b2 having been delivered globally.”
On a conference call, Bourla said that while "it's very early to speak" about the company's sales expectations for next year, he put Pfizer's 2022 production capacity at 4 billion doses.
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As for this year, Pfizer's total COVID-19 vaccine haul could still swell by an additional $10 billion, Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal wrote to clients on Wednesday.
"The numbers are going to be much higher," Gal wrote. "The guidance of $33.5B reflects contracts signed to today which reflect total commitment to sell 2.1 million doses (at average price of $15.95). Pfizer notes they expect to manufacture 3 million doses. Presumably much of those will be sold as well, albeit at lower average price as consumption shifts to emerging markets. This is probably another $10 billion."
What did Comirnaty do for Pfizer's top line? With the vaccine generating $7.8 billion in second-quarter sales, the company's revenue swelled to $18.98 billion, up 92% from $9.86 during last year's second quarter.
But Pfizer’s success wasn’t only about the vaccine. Excluding Comirnaty sales, Pfizer's revenues still grew by 10% over the second quarter of 2020.
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In the drugmaker's pharma business, heart failure drugs Vyndaqel and Vyndamax posted sales increases of 77%. The popular blood thinner Eliquis posted a 13% sales increase thanks to adoption in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. And sales for pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar 13 leapt 34% over last year's second quarter when the pandemic limited doctor visits.
Through 2025, Pfizer anticipates double-digit sales growth, Bourla said. That's excluding contributions from the COVID-19 shot.