{"id":196791,"date":"2021-10-04T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=196791"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:08:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:08:29","slug":"pfizer-moderna-eye-windfall-profits-as-covid-booster-rollout-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/10\/pfizer-moderna-eye-windfall-profits-as-covid-booster-rollout-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Pfizer, Moderna Eye Windfall Profits as COVID Booster Rollout Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One analyst predicted COVID boosters alone will bring in about $26 billion in global sales next year for Pfizer \u2014 that splits profits with BioNTech \u2014 and around $14 billion for Moderna.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The Defender<\/p><\/div>\n

27 Sep 2021 –\u00a0<\/em>Yesterday, Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla predicted<\/a> life will return to normal within a year, but it\u2019s likely annual COVID vaccinations will be necessary.<\/p>\n

Bourla\u2019s vision for a \u201creturn to normal life\u201d would position Pfizer<\/a> and Moderna<\/a> to make billions in profits dispensing endless booster doses. How much the manufacturers stand to gain<\/a> depends on how big the rollout is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a year I think we will be able to come back to normal life,\u201d Bourla said in an interview on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bourla said<\/a> he does not think this means variants will no longer exist, or that we \u201cshould be able to live our lives without having vaccinations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cmost likely scenario,\u201d Bourla said, is annual vaccination with vaccines that last at least a year, \u201cbut we don\u2019t know really, we need to wait and see the data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bourla\u2019s prediction echoed that of Moderna CEO St\u00e9phane Bancel, who when asked last week for his estimate of a return to normal life, told Swiss newspaper<\/a> Neue Z\u00fcrcher Zeitung the COVID<\/a> pandemic could be over in a year.<\/p>\n

Moderna on Sept. 1 asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize the use of a third booster dose<\/a> of its COVID vaccine.<\/p>\n

Johnson & Johnson still has to submit<\/a> the data for its booster shot to the FDA for approval, although the company has said it does not plan to profit<\/a> from its vaccine during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

According to the Associated Press<\/a> (AP), the average forecast among analysts for Moderna\u2019s 2022 revenue jumped 35% after President Biden laid out his booster plan<\/a> in mid-August.<\/p>\n

Most vaccines given so far in the U.S. have come from Pfizer and BioNTech. Morningstar<\/a> analyst Karen Andersen expects boosters alone to bring in about $26 billion in global sales next year for Pfizer \u2014 who splits profits with BioNTech \u2014 and around $14 billion for Moderna if they are endorsed for nearly all Americans.<\/p>\n

Pfizer executives said they expect their pre-tax adjusted profit margin from the vaccine to be in the \u201chigh 20s\u201d as a percentage of revenue. That would translate to an estimated profit of $7 billion next year just from boosters, according to Andersen\u2019s sales prediction.<\/p>\n

This year alone, Pfizer expects its COVID vaccine to generate $33.5 billion in revenue<\/a> with vaccine supply agreements worth more than $60 billion in sales<\/a>, just in 2021 and 2022. The agreements include supply of the initial two doses of their vaccines as well as billions of dollars in potential boosters for wealthy nations.<\/p>\n

Pfizer\u2019s COVID vaccine is projected to make<\/a> up 42% of the company\u2019s total revenue, and will bring more than five times the $5.8 billion racked up last year by the world\u2019s most lucrative vaccine \u2014 Pfizer\u2019s Prevnar13 \u2014 a vaccine for pneumococcal disease.<\/p>\n

This bodes well for future vaccine development, said Erik Gordon<\/a>, a business professor at the University of Michigan. Vaccines normally are nowhere near as profitable as treatments, Gordon said. But the success of the COVID shots could draw more drugmakers and venture capitalists into the field.<\/p>\n

For Pfizer and Moderna, boosters could be more profitable than original doses because they won\u2019t come with the research and development costs the companies incurred to get the vaccines initially on the market, AP reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WBB Securities<\/a> CEO Steve Brozak said the booster shots will represent \u201calmost pure profit<\/a>\u201d compared with the initial doses.<\/p>\n

There is opportunity for Pfizer to generate similar \u2014 or higher \u2014 levels of revenue in the future as experts predict COVID is here to stay.<\/p>\n

The FDA last week authorized a third dose<\/a> of Pfizer\u2019s vaccine for some individuals \u2014 those 65 and older and also those \u201cwhose frequent institutional or occupational exposure\u201d to the virus puts them at high risk of serious complications from the disease caused by the virus, the agency said.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 17, the FDA\u2019s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), a group of scientists who advise the FDA on vaccine approvals, unanimously recommended<\/a> Emergency Use Authorization for a booster dose of Pfizer\u2019s vaccine for people 65 and older and those with compromised immune systems \u2014 but voted 16 \u2013 2 against<\/a> recommending boosters for the general population, citing a lack of long-term data. The committee said the risks did not outweigh the benefits for those people.<\/p>\n

The decision was perceived as a major rebuke of the Biden administration, STAT reported<\/a>. And it closely followed the resignations of Marion Gruber and Phil Krause, two key FDA vaccine regulators who announced their resignations<\/a> days after Biden\u2019s initial booster announcement.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 24, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ignored the advice<\/a> of the agency\u2019s vaccine advisory committee, clearing the way for healthcare workers, teachers, grocery store workers, residents of long-term care facilities, homeless shelters, prisons and anyone else considered \u201chigh risk\u201d to receive a third Pfizer shot.<\/p>\n

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Critics slammed the decision, calling it \u201cunjustified and unethical\u201d and a \u201cconsolation prize\u201d for Pfizer, which wanted approval for everyone in the general population, over age 16.<\/p>\n

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— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) September 24, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n