Pfizer said that demand for its COVID-19 products, including vaccines, is lower than expected.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer slashed its profit and revenue estimates for a full year as it said that demand for COVID-19 vaccines and other products has dropped.
The firm now expects 2023 sales of $58 billion to $61 billion, down from previous forecasts of $67 billion to $70 billion, according to its guidance report that was released on Friday, Oct. 13. The revenue outlook was slashed, it said, “solely due to its COVID products” such as its vaccine and antiviral drug.
It anticipates that sales of its COVID-19 vaccine will be about $2 billion lower than its previously expected forecast due to lower-than-expected rates of people taking the mRNA shot. The firm’s latest COVID-19 booster was made available by U.S. federal regulators last month, but the rollout has been relatively slow—with only about 2 percent of Americans taking any of the vaccines, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) data.
The company also reduced its guidance or Paxlovid, an antiviral drug that targets COVID-19, by about $7 billion, it said.
With the revised guidance, Pfizer’s stock closed down about 2 percent to $32.11 on Friday, another decline in the pharmaceutical company’s shares. Meanwhile, shares of the New York-based company were down about 7 percent in extended trading. At the start of 2023, the company’s stock was trading at around $50.
Pfizer earned record revenue in 2021 and 2022, topping $100 billion last year, after developing its vaccine Comirnaty with German partner BioNTech SE and antiviral treatment Paxlovid on its own. Last year, revenue from those two products exceeded $56 billion.
“We remain proud that our scientific breakthroughs played a significant role in getting the global health crisis under control,” Pfizer CEO Albert Boura said in a statement Friday. “As we gain additional clarity around vaccination and treatment rates for COVID, we will be better able to estimate the appropriate level of supply to meet demand.”
Pfizer said it would take a non-cash charge of $5.5 billion in the third quarter to write off $4.6 billion of Paxlovid and $900 million of inventory write-offs and other charges for the vaccine.
By Jack Phillips
