Pfizer expects to generate a staggering €25bn in Covid vaccine sales in 2022, according to a report from Reuters.
On Tuesday, the pharmaceutical heavyweight said it expected 2021 sales of its Covid-19 vaccine to reach €31bn and forecast another €25bn from the shot next year, surpassing analyst estimates for both 2021 and 2022.
The American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation, which partnered with German biotechnology company BioNTech SE to develop its vaccine, said it is seeking to sign more vaccine deals with countries.
If this comes to fruition, the messenger RNA shot producer could see sales soar even higher next year. Pfizer says it has the capacity to produce 4 billion doses next year, basing its projections on sales of 1.7 billion doses.
The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was the first to receive U.S. authorization last year. This week, U.S. regulators gave the green light to begin administering the vaccine to children as young as five years old.
Despite its bank-breaking predictions, Chief Executive of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, voiced concerns that low-and-middle-income countries would not place orders for next year’s vaccine doses early enough, and could once again end up lagging behind wealthier countries in terms of supply.
“The high-income countries, they have the tendency to be way more proactive, and they are placing their orders,” Bourla said in an interview. “I want to make sure that I go on record publicly… they need to place orders, period.”
Pfizer said it anticipates delivering at least one billion doses of its vaccine to low – and middle – income countries in 2022. Pfizer’s vaccine brought in sales of €9bn in the third quarter. The company splits gross profit from sales of the shot in most of the world with BioNTech.
Looking beyond 2022, Pfizer said it expects the market for Covid-19 vaccines to be long-lasting, and continue generating sales in the years to come.
The company said it plans for the emergence of private markets for the vaccine in the foreseeable future, particularly in the United States. However, its Chief Executive, Albert Bourla, said Pfizer may yet sign another big supply contract with the U.S. Government.
“As long as the government thinks they should be going with mass vaccinations that they buy and distribute, we will support them,” he said.
It was reported on Wednesday that Pfizer shares were up more than 5% at $45.92. Company executives at Pfizer said that the pharmaceutical company plans to monitor participants in its clinical study for a fourth dose of its vaccine in order to document the effect of possible annual and repeat vaccinations.
Meanwhile, according to a report from Fierce Pharma, a pharmaceutical industry news outlet, health data analytics group Airfinity said that Pfizer and Moderna combined will continue to dominate the Covid-19 vaccine market in 2022. According to data seen by The Financial Times, the two companies are expected to take in a combined €80bn euro in vaccine sales next year. The group puts total market sales for Covid-19 vaccines in 2022 at a jaw-dropping €107bn.
Airfinity predicts that Pfizer vaccine sales will reach€47bn in 2022 and Moderna’s will hit €33.5bn. The estimates “blow the consensus figures of $23.6 billion (€20.4bn) for Pfizer and $20 billion (€17.3bn) for Moderna out of the water,” Fierce Pharma said.
The CEO of Airfinity, Rasmus Beck Hansen, told the Financial times that the numbers “are unprecedented”. Sales of the mRNA shots are set to continue to accelerate in 2022 through booster use and countries stockpiling vaccines in the hope of protecting against emerging variants, Airfinity said. Analysts believe that Pfizer will generate 64 per cent of its sales and Moderna 75 per cent of its from high-income countries in 2022.
While the figures may be incredible, sales of the vaccines have already surprised even their producers. In April, Pfizer predicted that it would generate $26 billion (€22.5bn) in vaccine sales this year, however later boosted that figure to £33.5 billion (€29bn) while reporting second-quarter results. Meanwhile, Bernstein alayst Ronny Gal stated that the company could end up with an additional $10 (€8.6) billion in vaccine sales before 2021 is out.
Airfinity’s predictions indicate that mRNA vaccines will continue to assert dominance in the non-Chinese market next year, accounting for an enormous three-quarters of sales. The rest of the market will be supplied by the adenovirus vaccines AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson as well as Sputnik V. Novavax’s subunit vaccine, which is not yet approved but could also be on the market by next year.