Pfizer profit soars in 1st quarter, revises ’22 forecast

COVID-19 vaccine and treatment sales helped Pfizer breeze past Wall Street’s first-quarter expectations, as the drugmaker’s profit grew 61%.

The coronavirus vaccine Comirnaty brought in more than $13 billion in sales in the quarter, and the company is still trying to expand the market for the preventive shots.

Pfizer leaders said Tuesday they expect to submit to regulators by early June data on the effectiveness of a smaller, three-shot combination of their vaccine in children under age 5.

Currently, only children ages 5 or older can be vaccinated in the U.S. with Pfizer’s vaccine.

The pill treatment Paxlovid, which launched late last year, added another $1.5 billion in the first quarter.

All that helped company revenue swell 77%, compared to last year’s quarter, when vaccine sales were still ramping up.

Overall, Pfizer on Tuesday posted net income of $7.86 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share in the first quarter.

That easily topped the $1.49 per share projected by industry analysts, according to a survey by FactSet.

Revenue was $25.66 billion, also beating Wall Street expectations for $24.1 billion.

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine launched in late 2020 and became the drugmaker’s top selling product by last year’s second quarter.

Pfizer books the vast majority of revenue from Comirnaty and splits profit, as well as the cost to make and distribute the vaccine, with development partner BioNTech.

Sales of that vaccine topped analyst expectations for the quarter, but revenue from Paxlovid fell short.

However, sales of the treatment are expected to pick up later this year, and President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing to expand access to Paxlovid.

“We are seeing strong signs for increasing demand for Paxlovid,” Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told analysts Tuesday.