Frankfurt The demand for the Covid vaccine Comirnaty from Biontech and Pfizer continues to rise and will bring the two companies even higher sales in 2021 than previously expected. The US pharmaceutical company has now raised its sales forecast for the Covid vaccine to $ 36 billion, compared to $ 33.5 billion previously expected.
This means that the revenues of Mainz-based Biontech are likely to be even higher than previously predicted. Biontech is forecasting sales of 15.9 billion euros with the vaccine so far and will provide an update on its numbers and forecasts on November 9th. The share prices of the two companies rose by almost two percent each on Tuesday afternoon in response to the new data.
The mRNA-based vaccine developed by Biontech continues to prove to be an unprecedented growth driver for both companies. Pfizer now expects consolidated sales including all other activities in the current year to be between $ 81 billion and $ 82 billion, about three percent higher than previously forecast. Compared to the previous year’s figure of almost 42 billion dollars, the US group’s revenues will almost double thanks to the Covid vaccine.
The same applies to adjusted net income, which is expected to increase from $ 2.22 to $ 4.13 to $ 4.18 per share. That equates to a total value of about $ 24 billion. Of this, around $ 8.7 billion in net income or $ 1.53 per share should come from the Comirnaty business alone.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
In the third quarter alone, the Covid vaccine delivered revenues of $ 13 billion, according to Pfizer, causing sales to jump 130 percent to $ 24 billion. The rest of the US group’s business, on the other hand, has tended to slow down somewhat and only increased operationally seven percent. Pfizer has therefore reduced its sales forecast for its traditional activities by one billion dollars, to 45 to 46 billion dollars.
Comirnaty: 2.3 billion vaccine doses in 2021
Pfizer’s new forecast for Comirnaty is based on the expectation that it will deliver around 2.3 billion doses of the vaccine this year. So far, according to Pfizer, two million cans have been shipped, three quarters of them outside the United States.
The sales and sales forecast for the year as a whole includes the expected US deliveries up to the end of December, while international sales only up to the end of November.
It is therefore relatively difficult to transfer the forecast of the US group to the data from Biontech. It seems clear, however, that the Mainz-based company is likely to raise its forecast by more than a billion euros.
Both companies continue to assume that they will produce around three billion doses of vaccine this year. Pfizer mainly explains the difference to the sales of 2.3 billion cans on which the new sales forecast is based on the fact that international deliveries in December will only be booked as sales in the figures for 2022. Only to a lesser extent is the difference due to quantities produced but not sold.
Growing market shares for Pfizer and Biontech
Biontech and Pfizer operate the Covid vaccine business as a 50/50 partnership and share the proceeds from the business. Most of the sales to external customers are booked by Pfizer, while Biontech only operates direct business in Germany and Turkey.
The Mainz-based biotech company’s revenues are therefore primarily derived from vaccine deliveries to Pfizer and from shares in the joint gross income from the business. The gross margin of the business is likely to be in excess of 80 percent overall.
For the coming year, according to some observers, in view of the continued very high demand for vaccines, there are signs that the two companies will have another strong boost in sales. The background is expanded approvals, a strong trend towards additional booster vaccinations and market share gains compared to other Covid vaccines, including the Chinese vaccines.
Pfizer boss Albert Bourla referred in the quarterly call to increasing market shares in the USA and Europe, where 80 percent of Covid vaccinations were made with Comirnaty in October.
In the USA, Biontech and Pfizer also received approval a few days ago to use the vaccine in children aged five to eleven.
In this area, Comirnaty is likely to have a unique position for the time being, as the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on approval for Moderna’s competitor vaccine has been delayed at least until January. The Covid vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer is also the preferred product for use in adolescents and young adults due to its more favorable side-effect profile in many countries.
More: You can find all current company figures in our news blog