On Thursday, Pfizer Inc. reported its quarterly results but did not change the sales forecast for the year of its COVID-19 antiviral treatment and vaccine.

This saw the company’s shares record losses of 5% before they managed to trim some of them.

Pfizer report

Even though the sales of Pfizer’s Paxlovid antiviral pills for the second quarter were significantly higher than expected, the US drugmaker kept its forecast of COVID products for the full year at $54 billion.

This prompted concerns about the long-term growth prospects of the company. Wall Street estimates had put the sales of Paxlovid a full $1 billion below the actual results.

Pfizer disclosed that the second quarter sales for the antiviral treatment were $8.1 billion, as demand for the treatment rose with a rise in cases.

US President Joe Biden also recently took a course on the drug because of his bout with COVID.

The drugmaker also did not change its overall forecast and chose to keep it between $98 billion and $102 billion because of a strong dollar.

Sales performance

There has been an unprecedented increase in the sales of Pfizer Inc., after it rolled out its COVID-19 vaccine globally, which it had developed with German firm BioNTech.

However, since the previous year, there has been a decline in the sales figure. Analysts seem to be divided over the durability of the Paxlovid treatment as well as the vaccine, considering that the urgency of the pandemic is waning.

Market analysts said that the long-term sustainability of the business is debatable and it will be essential for Pfizer to develop new drugs in order for it to be able to surpass expectations.

The company has been relying on sales of the booster doses of its vaccine to boost demand in the next couple of years, including a vaccine version tailed for the Omicron variant expected in the fall.

Vaccine deal

Last month, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech signed a deal with the US government worth $3.2 billion for about 105 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

This also includes the supply of the booster that has been adapted for the Omicron variant, which is yet to get regulatory clearance.

The sales for the second quarter overall were $27.74 billion, which were higher than the estimates of $25.74 billion from analysts.

Market analysts said that if COVID is excluded from the picture, then it appears to be less rosy for the company.

This is because sales of other drugs and treatments by Pfizer, such as Xeljanz for arthritis and Ibrance for breast cancer, were well below estimates.

The numbers stood at $430 million and $1.32 billion, respectively. There was a 13% increase in the sales of the COVID-19 vaccine, which saw them reach $8.85 billion.

The second quarter profit of Pfizer Inc. climbed to $9.91 billion, as opposed to a year ago when it had been $5.56 billion. The company’s shares recorded a decline of 1.2% to trade at $50.93.