Staff Reports
Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant known for its COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral medication, reported a loss during its earnings call on Tuesday. The decrease in demand for these products, specifically the drug Paxlovid and the Comirnaty vaccine, was the main cause of the loss. Paxlovid alone cost the company a whopping $4.7 billion, while the vaccine was responsible for $900 million in losses. Ouch!
Pfizer Suffers Massive Quarterly Loss as COVID Vaccines and Paxlovid Doses Are Returned
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In terms of revenue, Pfizer recorded $13.2 billion for the third quarter, which is a 42 percent drop from the previous quarter. According to CNBC, the revenue generated from Pfizer’s COVID shots was $1.31 billion from July to September. However, this is a significant decrease of 70 percent compared to the same period last year. The sales of Paxlovid were hit even harder, dropping 97 percent year-over-year.
To add insult to injury, Pfizer had to take back nearly 8 million unused courses of Paxlovid from the U.S. government, along with their vaccine inventory. This resulted in a one-time charge of $5.6 billion recorded in the third quarter, with $4.7 billion attributed to Paxlovid and $0.9 billion to Comirnaty. This news caused shares of Pfizer to open at a lower price than before, dropping from a record high of over $57 per share in December 2021 to $30.32 on Tuesday morning.
So, what’s behind this sudden decline in demand? Reuters suggests that it may be due to “population-wide immunity” caused by annual vaccination rates dropping and increased immunity among the population. It seems that people are feeling confident about their defenses against COVID-19, resulting in decreased demand for vaccines and treatments.
Despite these setbacks, Pfizer remains optimistic about its non-COVID drugs. The company reported strong performance in this area in the third quarter, with significant contributions from new launches and year-over-year growth for several key brands. Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO, Albert Bourla, expressed his encouragement over this performance, while Chief Financial Officer David Denton highlighted the strong 10% operational revenue growth for Pfizer’s non-COVID products.
Pfizer’s earnings call revealed a significant loss due to decreased demand for their COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral medication. The company had to write off $5.6 billion, with Paxlovid taking a big hit of $4.7 billion. However, Pfizer remains optimistic about its non-COVID drugs, which showed strong performance in the third quarter. It looks like the pharmaceutical giant is not out of the game just yet.
