Pfizer on Tuesday raised its 2022 earnings guidance after booking a solid third quarter that beat analyst expectations.
The pharmaceutical company raised the lower end of its sales guidance and now expects revenue of $99.5 billion to $102 billion for the year.
Pfizer raised its full-year sales guidance for its Covid-19 vaccine to $34 billion this year, up $2 billion from the company’s previous expectations. It is maintaining revenue expectations of $22 billion for the antiviral pill Paxlovid.
Its shares rose by about 2 percent on Tuesday morning trading, according to CNBC.
But Pfizer’s third-quarter global revenue fell 6 percent to $22.6 billion compared to last year’s last year due to lower demand for its Covid vaccines internationally. The company sold $4.4 billion of its vaccine worldwide in the quarter, a decrease of 66 percent compared with the third quarter of 2021.
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But softer global Covid vaccine sales internationally were offset by strong demand in the U.S., where revenue increased 83 percent yearly due to the rollout of the new BA.5 omicron boosters. Paxlovid also had a strong quarter, generating $7.5 billion in sales worldwide though mostly in the U.S.
Sales of Eliquis, a blood thinner to treat clots and prevent strokes, came in at about $1.5 billion, a 9 percent increase over the same quarter last year. And Pfizer’s pneumonia vaccine, Prevnar, booked $1.6 billion in global sales, an increase of 11 percent over the same period in 2021.
Pfizer had a net income of $8.6 billion for the third quarter, a 6 percent increase over the same quarter last year.
Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive indicated that the company is looking beyond the Covid pandemic which has led to record windfalls for the pharmaceutical giant.
Bourla said in a statement that Pfizer plans to launch 19 new products or new uses for existing drugs in the next 18 months. The company, for example, reported positive clinical trial data Tuesday for its maternal RSV vaccine that protects newborns.
The RSV vaccine is administered as a single dose to the mother in the late second or third trimester of her pregnancy. Pfizer’s data showed that in the first 90 days of the baby’s life, the vaccine was 81 percent effective at preventing severe lower respiratory tract illnesses that require hospitalization or assisted breathing.
Pfizer closed major acquisitions of Biohaven and Global Blood Therapeutics in the third quarter deals worth $11.6 billion and $5.4 billion, respectively.
