Pfizer developed PAXLOVID antiviral nirmatrelvir co-packaged with ritonavir to treat the virus.
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Pfizer Tuesday report Third-quarter revenue and adjusted profit topped expectations as the company’s Covid vaccine and antiviral drug Paxlovid helped boost sales.
The pharmaceutical giant also raised its full-year outlook and now expects adjusted earnings of $2.75 to $2.95 per share, up from its previous guidance of $2.45 to $2.65 per share.
Pfizer now expects revenue between $61 billion and $64 billion, up from its previous forecast of $59.5 billion to $62.5 billion. That includes about $5 billion in expected revenue from Covid vaccines and $5.5 billion in expected revenue from Paxlovid.
What’s this Company releases third quarter financial results Compared to Wall Street expectations, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: Adjusted $1.06, expected 62 cents
- income: $17.7 billion vs. $14.95 billion expected
The company’s third-quarter net income was $4.47 billion, or 78 cents per share. That compares with a net loss of $2.38 billion, or 42 cents per share, in the same period last year. Excluding certain items, including restructuring charges and costs related to intangible assets, the company reported earnings per share of $1.06 for the quarter.
Pfizer reported third-quarter revenue of $17.7 billion, a 31% increase from the same period last year.
It’s a crucial quarterly report for Pfizer, which is cutting costs and trying to recover from a rapid decline in its business and stock price over the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The drugmaker’s shares are now about half of their pandemic highs, giving it a market value of about $163 billion.
Pfizer also faces a proxy fight from activist investor Starboard Value, which owns about $1 billion in the drug company.
Starboard managing member Jeff Smith believes Pfizer failed to capitalize on the windfall from its COVID-19 product and lost tens of billions of dollars in market value in the process. Smith noted that he believes management has not invested enough in research and development, and that large acquisitions have yet to bear fruit for the troubled company.
Notably, during the quarter, Pfizer withdrew from the global market an important sickle cell drug it acquired through Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4 billion.
Starboard has called for sweeping reforms to Pfizer, claiming the company needs to be more stringent about investments.
Meanwhile, Pfizer reiterated on Tuesday that it expects to save at least $4 billion by the end of the year. The company announced a multi-year cost-cutting plan in May, with the first phase expected to save $1.5 billion by 2027.
Paxlovid’s sales for the quarter were $2.7 billion, up from $202 million in the same period last year.
The growth is largely attributable to strong demand, especially in the United States during the latest wave of virus outbreaks. Also helping the company was a contract for a one-time delivery of 1 million Paxlovid courses to the federal government’s national stockpile in the third quarter, which accounted for $442 million in revenue.
Those results were higher than analysts’ expectations for Paxlovid’s sales of $707.7 million, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount.
The company’s Covid vaccine revenue was $1.42 billion, up 9% from the same period last year.
Pfizer said the growth was driven primarily by vaccine inventory timing, noting that an updated version of the vaccine was approved earlier this fall than last year. This increase was partially offset by lower contract deliveries and demand in international markets.
Analysts expect sales of the vaccine to be $1.04 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Product growth during the non-COVID-19 period
Pfizer said third-quarter operating income, excluding Covid products, rose 14%, helped by Seagen’s approved cancer products, which it sold last year. A whopping $43 billion.
Those drugs brought in $854 million in revenue for the quarter, including $409 million from a targeted bladder cancer treatment called Padcev and $268 million from Adectris, a drug that targets certain lymphomas. Pfizer completed its acquisition of Seagen in December.
Revenue also increased from sales of Pfizer’s Vyndaqel drug, which is used to treat a certain type of cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. Sales of these drugs were $1.45 billion, a 62% increase from the third quarter of 2023.
Analysts had expected revenue from the drug to reach $1.37 billion this quarter, according to StreetAccount estimates.
Pfizer said the blood thinner Eliquis, which it sells with Bristol-Myers Squibb, also helped boost revenue in the period. The drug’s revenue for the quarter was US$1.62 billion, an increase of 8% over the same period last year.
That was slightly higher than analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Eliquis sales could take a hit in 2026, however, as new prices for the drug will take effect for some Medicare patients following negotiations with the federal government. These price negotiations are a key provision of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is fiercely opposed by the pharmaceutical industry.
Meanwhile, Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus vaccine (RSV) generated third-quarter revenue of $356 million. The vaccine, called Abrysvo, will enter the market in the third quarter of 2023 and is intended for the elderly and pregnant women to provide protection to the fetus.
Analysts had expected the shoot to bring in sales of $255.4 million, according to StreetAccount estimates.
Last week, Pfizer’s RSV vaccine won Agree Targeting adults ages 18 to 59 who are at higher risk for the disease — a decision that could significantly expand U.S. vaccination coverage
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