Big pharmaceutical company Pfizer is one of the biggest winners from the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent report revealed that its vaccine was the world’s best-selling pharmaceutical drug in 2021 – nearly doubling sales figures for all products in the entire market.
A report published by Fierce Pharma on Tuesday notes that the Pfizer vaccine, a joint project with German company BioNTech, which officially goes by the name Comirnaty, generated sales of $36.8 billion last year, and thus led the entire global drug market by a wide margin.
Humira, an arthritis drug manufactured by AbbVie, ranks second by a wide margin, and brought in $20.7 billion in sales last year. Moderna’s vaccine, branded Spikevax, was the third-biggest pharmaceutical product, generating $17.7 billion in sales — half that of its biggest competitor.
Covid vaccine makers have been criticized in recent months for prioritizing profits over protection, raking in billions of dollars selling the drugs to big buyers like the US and western European countries, while leaving others in the developing world.
Regulators in the US and elsewhere have come under fire for repeatedly approving booster shots — which bring more revenue to Pfizer and Moderna — despite limited evidence that more shots are needed to slow the virus’ path.
Pfizer’s vaccine is most popular in the US, as it is in much of the world, having been administered 346 million times since its launch in late 2020
Pfizer’s stock price is up 40% since the end of 2020, from $36.81 a share to $52 a share as of Wednesday morning
The United States has become one of Pfizer’s largest and most trusted customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The New York City-based company’s Covid shot is most commonly used in the United States, having been administered well over 300 million times since its launch in late 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pfizer’s vaccine has transformed the company, which was already one of the biggest players in the lucrative pharmaceutical industry, into one of the most recognizable brands in the world and has proven to be a financial boon for executives and shareholders.
The company’s stock price is up 40 percent since the end of 2020, from $36.81 on Dec. 31, 2020 to $52 a share as of Wednesday morning.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla (pictured) has been paid $45 million in compensation over the past two years betting on the successful launch of the COVID-19 vaccines
According to multiple reports, Albert Bourla, the firm’s CEO, also received over $45 million in compensation over the past two years. His “golden parachute,” money he gets paid out if he’s forced out of the company if it’s taken over, is also estimated at over $100 million.
Upon request for comment, a Pfizer spokesman explained the company’s financial arrangement with BioNTech.
‘The vaccine collaboration between Pfizer and BioNTech is a 50/50 gross profit split; Development costs are shared equally. Pfizer and BioNTech each book sales in the markets where each company controls commercialization,” they said.
“Pfizer accounts for the majority of global collaboration revenues, with the exception of Germany and Turkey where we receive a profit share (50/50 gross split) from BioNTech. We do not participate in the China region.’
More purchases are likely on the way for the U.S., too, as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC approved Pfizer’s booster shots for children ages five to 11 in May, a move criticized by many health officials became experts.
dr Marty Makary, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University, told last month that the decision was “the biggest slap in the face to science we’ve seen during the pandemic,” referring to it the CDC advisory panel approved the decision as a “kangaroo court.”
However, Bourla was a proponent of more and more shooting. He said earlier this year that for the long term, all Americans would likely need doses of vaccine purchased from his company every year.
Pfizer is also seeking approval of its Covid vaccine for American children ages six months to five years, a controversial proposal that would likely result in the US making another large purchase of the vaccines.
Many have also criticized Pfizer’s business practices related to the stings over the past year. While big nations like the US, Britain and others in Western Europe have eastern access to the shots — some nations are even sitting on large stockpiles — many have been left behind in the developing world.
In Africa, for example, only 23 percent of residents have received at least one vaccination and 17 percent are fully vaccinated – figures that dwarf their counterparts in the West.
“Big pharma have been growing their businesses through shameless pandemic profiteers,” Maaza Seyoum, the Global South Convenor of the People’s Vaccine Alliance, told last month.
“At the height of the crisis, they sold these life-saving tools to the highest bidder while people in the Global South were left to die.
“And they locked the technology behind a wall of intellectual property rules and refused to share the recipes with the world.”
Pfizer is forecasting more than $30 billion in revenue from its recordings this year, nearly matching last year’s peak. However, the company’s golden goose may soon stop laying eggs.
It’s also the maker of Paxlovid, a White House-touted Covid antiviral pill believed to have the potential to reduce hospitalizations and deaths from the virus by 90 percent.
Public interest in the vaccines and the Covid pandemic at large has waned. A recent Gallup poll found that a third of Americans are no longer worried about the pandemic, one of the lowest numbers on record.
Case numbers are also rising across the country without translating hospitalizations and deaths at the same rates as in previous periods of the pandemic.
According to the latest figures, the nation is recording an average of 99,748 Covid cases each day, down eight percent over the past week. However, deaths have not occurred at the same rate as America records 611 per day.
The nation’s booster rollout famously fell flat, with demand for the extra shots being much lower than many officials anticipated. Now the White House is struggling to raise funds for future pandemic initiatives, which could leave the country unable to get the vaccines.