COVID-19 pandemic Archives - Page 2 of 2

Pfizer projects $36 billion in COVID-19 vaccine revenue in 2021

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and its partner BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) continue to dominate the COVID-19 vaccine market.

In 2021, Pfizer anticipates that the Comirnaty (BNT162b2) vaccine will generate $36 billion in sales.

For the sake of comparison, the company’s overall 2020 revenue was $41.9 billion.

The vaccine was the single biggest driver of revenue for the company in the third quarter, which totaled $24.1 billion overall. Compared to the same quarter last year, revenues increased 130%. Excluding Comirnaty sales, revenues grew 7% year over year.

Earlier this year, Pfizer projected that sales of the vaccine would be in the ballpark of $33.5 billion.

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. [Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla stressed that the global nature of its COVID-19 vaccine sales growth. “For example, more than 75% of the revenues we have recorded up through thir…

CDC authorizes fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose for some immunocompromised patients

As a growing number of Americans become eligible for a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines, CDC continues to expand its booster guidelines.

The agency has amended its criteria for moderately to severely immunocompromised people to allow a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine six months after receiving the third dose.

The criteria pertain to immunocompromised individuals who are 18 years of age or older who have received three doses of an mRNA vaccine.

CDC will allow COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech (NYSE:PFE/NSDQ:BNTX), Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) or Janssen (NYSE:JNJ) for the fourth dose. For Moderna recipients, the guidance recommends a 100-µg dose of mRNA for the third dose and a 50-µg dose for the fourth.

The guidelines, however, are more overt in their recommendations for moderately or severely immunocompromised individuals who have only received two doses of an mRNA vaccine. Assuming at least 28 days have elapsed since the second dose, CDC recommends t…

White House envisions $65 billion plan to battle future pandemics

President Joe Biden poses for his official portrait Wednesday, March 3, 2021, in the Library of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

With President Biden’s popularity recently slipping to a new low, the White House has announced a sweeping plan to blunt the impact of future pandemics. In the proposal titled “American Pandemic Preparedness: Transforming Our Capabilities,” the White House argues that “critical work” is “needed to transform U.S. capabilities to respond rapidly and effectively to any future pandemic or high consequence biologic threat.”

The Biden administration is initially seeking Congress to back a $15 billion investment in the initiative.

The proposal calls for a total of $65.3 billion investment in the next seven to 10 years.

Of that total, $24 billion would support the discovery and development of novel vaccines. Another $12 billion would cover thera…

Building a new foundation for oncology clinical trials

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted oncology clinical trials, and drug developers and regulators, including the FDA, continue to look for ways to catalyze clinical trial innovation. The FDA has been “vigilant as they always are to make sure that there is strong science, but they are much more open both in study design, alternative execution methods and the use of real-world evidence (RWE) and retrospective data,” said Jeff Elton, CEO of ConcertAI.

ConcertAI is now in a five-year collaboration with the FDA that involves RWE and AI to support regulatory decision-making. “One of the first projects is looking at cardiovascular adverse events that occur in [immuno-oncology]-treated patient populations,” Elton said.

One factor contributing to the evolution of oncology clinical trials is the change in interactions between sponsors and regulatory agencies. “It is materially diffe…

Drug prescription volume growth climbed to 21% in late May

Photo by Alexandros Chatzidimos from Pexels

As the U.S. economy continues to stabilize in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, prescription volumes continue to rebound as well. The overall market growth for prescription drugs from May 21–28 hit 21% year over year, according to IQVIA data. The growth rate in the prior two weeks was 13%.

New prescription growth from May 21 to 28 increased 34% year over year while retail growth hit 23%. In general, pharmacy chains have seen a rapid upward trend in sales since December 2020, with growth stabilizing in May 2021.

While mail-order prescriptions have expanded during the pandemic, total mail-order prescriptions accounted for only 5.2% of the total prescription drug market in late May.

All of the 42 therapeutic areas that Truist Securities tracks grew from May 21 to 28.

A recently released analyst report from UBS’s Kevin Caliendo, however, noted tha…

The top 5 pharma firms by reputation

Photo by Anton on Unsplash

Recent research from reputation data specialist RepTrak (Boston) indicates that the pharma industry had the largest year-over-year reputational improvement of any sector, according to its roundup of top 100 corporations. The sector saw significant gains in consumers’ perception of its citizenship and governance.

Now ranked eighth overall, the pharma industry came in just ahead of the consumer services industry and just behind the automobiles and components sector.

The pharma industry began to see its reputation improve beginning in the second quarter of 2020, when the industry claimed a leading role in pandemic recovery, according to RepTrak.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the pharmaceutical sector has the highest reputation of any industry, according to RepTrak’s report.

In creating the listing, RepTrack surveyed 68,577 people in 15 countries, asking them to a…