Pfizer and BioNTech profits fall as Covid fears subside

As the Covid-19 virus becomes part of history, with the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring an end to the pandemic earlier this year, demand for Covid vaccines drops to historic lows.
Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and BioNTech said their earnings will take a hit this quarter due to unsold vaccine supplies.
US-based Pfizer has said it will likely write off $900 million due to unsold vaccines, a figure rising to $947 million for its European partner BioNTech.
Last week, Pfizer cut its sales expectations for Paxlovid, its antiviral treatment for Covid, by about $7 billion.
Likewise, they reduced expectations for vaccine purchases by 2 billion.
Moderna, the main pharmaceutical rival of Pfizer and BioNTech and a vaccine developer in its own right, said Monday that it does not plan to revise demand expectations.
read also JP Morgan increases profits as global economy nears abyss Nonetheless, Moderna shares took a hit in New York on Monday, falling 5.75% before the close.
A similar decline was seen by Pfizer on Friday, although it rebounded in Monday trading.
However, BioNTech shares have fallen 10.79% in Frankfurt since last week, with a slight rebound on Monday followed by another decline.
Overall this year, Moderna has had the worst market performance of the three, down 48.38% year-to-date (YTD).
Pfizer fell 34.16% and BioNTech fell 34.47%.
The end of Covid? While the WHO has announced the end of the pandemic, i.e.
the end of global contagion by the virus, Covid-19 itself continues to circulate.
However, its effects appear significantly reduced thanks to massive vaccination campaigns in 2021 and 2022.
Pfizer and BioNTech were the first developers of a Covid vaccine, nicknamed Comirnaty, whose global success has seen their profits skyrocket.
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, whose work on mRNA helped develop the vaccine, were awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
read also Who is Claudia Goldin, the winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics Obviously, however, people are now trying to put the pandemic behind them and are less willing to renew the vaccine every year.
According to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, only 17% of the US adult population will receive another Covid booster shot this year, about the same percentage as last year.
“Whatever the vaccination rate turns out to be, it is our expectation that it will become a solid foundation for vaccination rates for years to come,” Bourla said.
According to Worldmeter, the number of daily Covid cases in the United States is at its lowest since the start of the pandemic.
The same goes for the number of deaths per day.
It therefore seems understandable, and overall good news, that fewer people are taking their annual vaccine dose.
Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna will have to engage in new research for the betterment of humanity, which will surely help their profits as well.
Article published on Money.it international edition on 2023-10-16 18:23:23.
Original title: Pfizer, BioNTech announce drop in earnings as Covid fears soothe