Pfizer revealed its annual revenue and profit forecast Wednesday as it projects the delivery of 500 million more Covid-19 vaccine doses compared with earlier expectations.
The two-shot vaccination accounted for more than 40 percent of Pfizer’s sales in Q2, lifting revenues sharply compared with the year-ago period.
Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said more than a billion doses of the vaccine have been delivered, saying “the speed and efficiency of our efforts with BioNTech to help inoculate the world against Covid-19 have been unprecedented.”
The US drugmaker, which has partnered with Germany’s BioNTech on the vaccine, now estimates delivering 2.1 billion doses, generating $33.5 billion in sales.
The company’s May forecast was for $26 billion in sales on 1.6 billion doses for the year.
Pfizer said the pre-tax profit margin on the Covid-19 vaccine sales was in the “high-20s” in terms of percent, the same as the earlier forecast.
Those profit margins have raised the ire of non-government organizations such as Public Citizen, which has accused Pfizer of “profiteering” on the pandemic and called on world leaders to launch a multi-billion dollar campaign to build vaccine manufacturing capacity and “vaccinate the world.”
In the second quarter, Pfizer reported profits of $5.6 billion, up 59 percent from the year-ago period on a 92 percent increase in revenues to $19 billion.
Shares of Pfizer rose 0.9 percent to $42.47 in pre-market trading.