Pfizer Inc said on Tuesday it expects to generate US$15 billion, or about a quarter of its total revenue this year, from the sale of its COVID-19 vaccine co-developed with German partner BioNTech.
The drugmaker is striving to deliver two billion doses of the vaccine in 2021 at a breakneck pace as countries rush to sign supply deals in an effort to control a pandemic that has killed over 2 million people globally.
Pfizer said its forecast could go higher if the company signs more supply contracts.
“2021 earnings and sales will see a significant benefit from the vaccine, and this benefit could increase throughout the year,” said Edward Jones analyst Ashtyn Evans.
Supply of the vaccine, however, has faced delays in parts of Europe due to changes in manufacturing processes in order to boost production. BioNTech said on Monday the companies were back on track to meet their European timeline.
Pfizer said it had supplied 65 million doses globally and 29 million doses in the United States as of Jan. 31. It expects to supply 200 million doses to the U.S. government by the end of May.
To achieve the goal, it will have to deliver an average of around 10 million doses per week, which is more than double the rate Pfizer and BioNTech delivered doses to the United States through the end of January, according to Reuters calculations.
Meanwhile, Pfizer’s deliveries to Canada have been reduced by an average of 50 per cent over a four-week period between January and February. Last week, Canada received zero vaccines from Pfizer.
However, Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the man in charge of Canada’s vaccine rollout, said the country is expected to receive 149,000 doses of the vaccine within the first two weeks of February, and the four million doses promised by the end of March
Its largest contracts so far have charged countries around US$19 per dose. Pfizer and BioNTech split gross profit from the vaccine by half under their partnership agreement.
The vaccine, which uses a new technology called messenger RNA (mRNA), was among the first to be authorized for emergency use in the United States and the first authorized use of mRNA technology.
Pfizer forecast 2021 sales between $59.4 billion and $61.4 billion, with the vaccine sales projected to contribute nearly 25 per cent of the sales.
The company said adjusted income before tax margin for the vaccine is likely to be in high-20s as a percentage of revenue.
The drugmaker now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $3.10 to $3.20 per share, up from its prior forecast of $3 to $3.10 per share.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in Maplewood, N.J.; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
With files from Global News
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