Riding on the success of its Covid vaccine, US bio-pharmaceutical company Pfizer anticipates to make revenues of approximately $33.5 billion in 2021, up from the previously projected $26 billion.
The company's second-quarter 2021 revenues totalled $19.0 billion, an increase of 92 per cent, compared to the 2020 Q2, reflecting operational growth of 86 per cent, Pfizer said in a statement on Wednesday.
Driven by Covid Vaccine
The Q2 2021 operational growth was primarily driven by its Covid vaccine, co-developed by German partner BioNTech. The Covid vaccine contributed $7.8 billion in direct sales and alliance revenues.
The revenue projection includes contracts for 2.1 billion doses that are expected to be delivered through mid-July. The companies have, so far, delivered 1 billion doses of the two-shot Covid vaccine.
The forecast may be adjusted in the future as additional contracts are signed, the company said.
3 Billion Doses
Based on current projections, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to manufacture in total up to 3 billion doses by the end of December 2021.
"The second quarter was remarkable in a number of ways. Most visibly, the speed and efficiency of our efforts with BioNTech to help vaccinate the world against Covid-19 have been unprecedented, with now more than a billion doses of BNT162b2 having been delivered globally," said Dr. Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in the statement.
In addition, the company posted 10 per cent revenue growth of $11.1 billion, excluding the Covid jabs.
"Looking forward, we remain highly confident in our ability to achieve at least a 6 per cent compound annual growth rate through 2025 and intend to build upon our recent successes by continuing to follow the science, trust in our people and remain focused on delivering breakthroughs for the patients we serve," Bourla added.
On Wednesday, Pfizer reported that the power of its two-dose Covid vaccine wanes slightly over time and citing new data, the US drug maker outlined a case for its booster shots.
Protection Against Delta Variant
A third dose of its Covid-19 vaccine can "strongly" boost protection against the Delta variant, according to an update from the ongoing booster trial.
The "data demonstrates that a third dose elicits neutralising titers against the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant that are more than five times higher in younger people and more than 11 times higher in older people than after two doses," Pfizer said.
Further, the study also demonstrated that a booster dose given at least six months after the second dose has a consistent tolerability profile while eliciting high neutralisation titers against the wild type and the Beta (B.1.351) variant, which are 5 to 10 times higher than after two primary doses.
