Covid vaccine sales and hospital unit drive up Pfizer’s first-quarter profit

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has reported a 61 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit, underpinned by the strong performance of its vaccine manufacturing arm and hospital unit.

The New York-based company’s net profit rose to about $7.9 billion in the three months to the end of March, from about $4.9bn in the same period last year. Revenue jumped by about 77 per cent yearly to $25.7bn on strong coronavirus vaccine sales, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $23.9bn.

The drug maker said it has sold $13.2bn worth of its Covid-19 vaccines and $1.5bn of its antiviral treatment Paxlovid in the three-month period.

Pfizer’s shares were about 2 per cent lower at $48.40 a share at 6pm UAE time on Wednesday.

“I am very proud of our performance this quarter, both from a financial perspective and from the standpoint of trying to be a force for good in the world,” said chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla. “We continue to supply the world with Comirnaty [vaccine to prevent coronavirus], which remains a critical tool for helping patients and societies avoid the worst impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Pfizer is on track to deliver at least one billion doses of Comirnaty to poor and middle-income countries this year.

Adjusted earnings per share rose by 72 per cent a year to $1.60 per share in the quarter, surpassing expectations of $1.50 a share.

The company predicts its revenue will hover between $98bn and $102bn while adjusted diluted earnings per share will stay between $6.30 and $6.50 this financial year.

Pfizer expects to sell $32bn worth of Covid-19 shots and $22bn worth of Paxlovid this year. The treatment does not prevent Covid-19 infections but was found to reduce the risk of hospital admission or death by at least 90 per cent.

Pfizer has continued to supply medicines to Russia. However, it said it would donate all profits from its Russian unit to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

All units of Pfizer delivered good growth in the first quarter, with the exception of its internal medicine arm and the inflammation and immunology department. Its vaccine-manufacturing division accounted for more than 58.2 per cent of overall revenue as sales jumped 205.3 per cent a year to more than $14.9bn in the first quarter.

The hospital unit contributed $3.2bn in sales, about 69 per cent more than in the same period last year. Oncology unit revenue rose by about 4 per cent annually to about $3bn.

Its rare disease departments added more than $963 million in sales, a yearly increase of 17 per cent. The internal medicine unit’s sales dropped 6 per cent to about $2.4bn in the three-month period while the inflammation and immunology department posted a 23 per cent drop to $821m.

During the first three months of the year, Pfizer returned $4.2bn to shareholders.