In February, Pfizer was predicting $15bn in COVID-19 vaccine sales for this year. Fast-forward just three months and the pharmaceutical giant has now revised that figure up 70% to $26bn.
That would mean the vaccine would account for nearly 30% of overall revenues in 2021. And the $26bn figure is based on 1.6 billion doses ordered as of mid-April: and could yet rise with more orders.
What next for the COVID-19 vaccine?
The vaccine, BNT152b2, was first authorized in December 2020; and since then the companies have shipped around 430 million doses of the vaccine to 91 countries and territories around the world. In Q1 2021, the vaccine made $3.5bn in sales.
Pfizer and its mRNA partner BioNTech are now also lining up deals past 2021. In April 2021, an agreement was signed with Israel to supply millions of doses in 2022 (exact number unspecified).
An agreement with Canada stretches the furthest: set to supply up to 125 million doses in 2022 and 2023, with options to purchase up to 60 million additional doses in 2024.
And in terms of size, a draft order for 1.6 billion doses with the EU for 2021-2023 represents the largest of orders lined up to date.
Pfizer and BioNTech are also lining up new authorizations to take the vaccine into new population groups. In the US and EU, they have submitted clinical trial data from adolescents aged 12-15 years old to regulators in the hope of amending its authorizations (currently for people aged 16+) to this demographic. In the US, a decision on younger age groups is reportedly imminent and could come early next week.