Pfizer raises 2022 sales guidance after beating Q3 expectations

The New York-based company’s net profit rose to more than $8.6bn in the three months to the end of September

Pfizer raised its full-year sales guidance for its Covid-19 vaccine to $34 billion. AP

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer raised its 2022 revenue guidance after posting a 6 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit and beating analysts’ sales expectations during the period.

The New York-based company’s net profit rose to more than $8.6 billion in the three months to the end of September, nearly $462 million more than the same period last year.

However, Pfizer's July-September revenue dropped nearly 6 per cent yearly to $22.6bn, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $21bn.

The drug maker raised its full-year sales guidance for its Covid-19 vaccine to $34bn, up $2bn from the earlier expectations.

It also elevated the lower end of full-year 2022 revenue guidance to a range of $99.5bn to $102bn, reflecting an “improved operational outlook combined with incremental unfavourable foreign exchange impacts”, the company said.

Following the earnings announcement, Pfizer's shares were trading about 3 per cent up at $47.95 a share.

Over the next 18 months, Pfizer aims to have up to 19 new products in the market – including the five for which the company began co-promotion or commercialisation earlier this year.

“Many of these 19 programmes (or products) are already largely de-risked from a clinical perspective, the majority were discovered in-house, and nearly all would be for indications outside of Covid-19,” Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive of Pfizer, said.

“This quarter, we set the stage for these potential launches by reorganising our commercial operations to better capitalise on these opportunities.”

Pfizer's adjusted earnings per share rose 40 per cent yearly to $1.78 per share in the quarter, surpassing the expectations of $1.39 a share.

The company predicts its adjusted diluted earnings per share will stay between $6.4 and $6.5 in 2022 financial year.

Sales of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine dropped almost 66 per cent on an annual basis to $4.4bn in the last quarter.

Meanwhile, Paxlovid contributed $7.5bn in global revenues. Paxlovid is a treatment for Covid-19 patients, but it does not prevent infection. It was found to reduce the risk of hospital admission or death from the virus by 90 per cent in a clinical trial of adults.

Pfizer reaffirmed the revenue guidance for Paxlovid of $22bn this fiscal year.

Beginning in the third quarter of this year, Pfizer made several organisational changes to transform its operations to better leverage its expertise in certain areas and in anticipation of potential future new product launches.

Pfizer’s primary care unit — consisting of the former internal medicine and vaccines product portfolios, as well as Covid-19 products — accounted for almost 70 per cent of overall revenue. Its sales dropped 1 per cent on annual basis to $15.8bn in the third quarter.

The specialty care arm — consisting of the former inflammation and immunology departments, rare disease and hospital product portfolios — dropped 3 per cent to $3.4bn.

Meanwhile, the oncology division revenue jumped 3 per cent to more than $3bn during the quarter.

In the first nine months of the year, Pfizer invested $7.8bn in internal research and development projects. It also allocated nearly $8bn were towards various business development transactions — including $6.4bn for the acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals and $400m for the acquisition of ReViral.

“Third-quarter results demonstrated commercial strength across many areas of our business but was somewhat obscured by the incredibly strong performance in the prior year,” David Denton, chief financial officer and executive vice president of Pfizer, said.

“We continue to make progress towards our goal of adding at least $25bn in risk adjusted 2030 revenues to Pfizer’s portfolio through business development … I look forward to continuing to execute on Pfizer’s strategies to deliver breakthroughs to patients and value to shareholders.”