Pfizer says it raked in $36,800,000,000 in COVID-19 vaccine sales

By AFP 8 February 2022, 9:22 pm

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Pfizer made nearly $40 billion from the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, making it among the best-selling drugs in history, and expects to bring in $50 billion from the vaccine and the Paxlovid therapeutic in 2022.

Pfizer reports annual profits of $22 billion, more than double the 2020 level. Annual revenues nearly doubled to $81.3 billion, with $36.8 billion from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Chief Executive Albert Bourla describes 2021 as a “watershed year” for Pfizer, adding that the company’s efforts in the pandemic “have fundamentally changed our company forever.”

A file photo shows a view of a wastebasket with syringes and gloves after residents received a dose of the third Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, at San Jeronimo nursing home, in Estella, around 38 km (24 miles) from Pamplona, northern Spain, on Thursday, September 23. 2021. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

The company projects 2022 revenues of between $98 and $102 billion.

For 2022, Pfizer expects $32 billion in revenue from COVID-19 vaccines and $22 billion in revenues from Paxlovid.

Bourla says the company is currently working on a new vaccine candidate based on the Omicron variant of COVID-19, as well as a new “potential next-generation oral COVID-19 treatment.”

Pfizer executives describe heavy interest in Paxlovid, with ongoing contract talks with about 100 governments around the world. The treatment has so far been approved in about 40 countries.

Bourla says the sales for Paxlovid “could be way bigger” than current forecasts. The 2022 estimate of $22 billion is based on signed contracts and negotiations where there is essentially an agreement, he said.

Pfizer’s scientists “continue to monitor the COVID-19 virus and believe it is unlikely that it will be fully eradicated in the foreseeable future,” Bourla said.

“That said, we now have the tools — in the forms of vaccines and treatments — that we believe will help enable us to not only better manage the pandemic but also help countries move into the endemic phase,” Bourla said.