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Even after closing a 2022 that he characterizes as “one of the most successful years” in the company’s history, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) CEO Albert Bourla issued an upbeat assessment of the company’s near-term future on Monday, citing 19 products set to launch in the next 18 months.
“I thoroughly believe the best days are ahead,” Bourla told CNBC, speaking at the JPM Healthcare Conference.
The Pfizer CEO clarified that his assessment of 2022 relates to the number of patients helped by the firm’s drugs, which he said reached 1.2B. In financial terms, the company’s performance was more complicated, as the PFE recalibrated after the growth it saw in previous years based on COVID-related products.
In its latest earnings report, released in November, the company said its Q3 revenue slipped 6% from last year to reach $22.6B. This still beat analysts’ expectations by $1.5B and the company raised its forecast for the full year. This came even as COVID vaccine sales plunged 66%.
Looking at the stock price, PFE had a choppy 2022, with shares down about 14% over the past year. However, this followed a run in 2021 that saw the stock rally from a number below $34 in February to a high above $60 by December.
In Monday’s intraday action, PFE slipped almost 5% to $48.49.
Commenting on the pandemic, the Pfizer chief predicted that as days pass, social distancing will disappear, vaccination rate will go down or stabilize around 30%-plus. Meanwhile, he warned that upcoming waves will be more severe, hence the treatment rate will go up.
Asked about China’s current COVID-19 crisis, Bourla said that the company is working hand-in-hand with CDC, FDA and Chinese authorities. Pfizer (PFE) is supplying as much Paxlovid as they can to China as it works equally among all variants, he noted.
Turning to some other COVID-related names, Moderna (MRNA) lost about 14% over a period of one year and +3% in intraday session; Novavax (NVAX) lost 91% of its value over the past one year but rose almost 13% in Monday’s intraday session; BioNTech (BNTX) dropped 34% over a period of one year and was marginally up during Monday’s intraday session.
Last week, PFE announced discussion with China to manufacture a generic version of COVID-19 drug Paxlovid locally.
Meanwhile, Seeking Alpha contributor ONeil Trader says, 19 new product launches are expected to contribute approximately $20B in revenues in 2030.
