Pfizer partner BioNTech is projecting that it will make less money than previously expected from COVID-19 vaccines.
BioNTech now projects that it will make about $4 billion from the shots this year, down from a projection earlier this year of $5 billion.
“Fewer primary vaccinations and lower population-wide levels of boosting are anticipated overall compared to the same period in previous years,” BioNTech, based in Germany, said in a Nov. 6 statement.
Some of the expected vaccine sales have shifted into 2024, according to the firm, blaming later-than-expected clearance from regulators.
U.S. regulators cleared a new vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech in August, at about the same time that regulators from nations and regions, including the European Union, Japan, and Canada, granted authorization or approval.
The vaccine was cleared despite no clinical trial or study data being available. Only data from testing on mice have been made public.
BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said during a call with investors that the preclinical data found the new shot triggered higher levels of neutralizing antibodies, thought to protect against COVID-19, than the last version. He made the unsupported claim that vaccination with the new shot can reduce severe COVID-19 and build on top of infection-acquired immunity.
Much of the world’s population has contracted COVID-19 and recovered at least once, giving them some measure of protection against infection and severe illness. There had been 771 million confirmed cases reported to the World Health Organization as of Nov. 2.
The company’s executives “anticipate the need for annual adaptive vaccines to be a long-term feature of COVID-19 vaccination practices,” Mr. Sahin said.
BioNTech reported making $961 million from its COVID-19 vaccines in the third quarter, and $2.5 billion year to date. Those numbers were down from $3.6 billion in the third quarter of 2022, and $13.8 billion in the first three quarters of 2022, according to the company’s data.
Revenue for the third quarter was $961 million, down from $3.7 billion in the third quarter of 2022, according to BioNTech, which saw its net profit plummet to $171 million. The reduced revenue stemmed in part from write-downs from Pfizer, according to the company.
The company cut costs because of the reduced revenue estimates, Jens Holstein, BioNTech’s chief financial officer, said.
BioNTech teamed up with Pfizer for one of the most widely administered COVID-19 vaccines in the world and has reaped billions of dollars from the shots.
Future revenue from the vaccines depends on “numerous factors,” including competition from other vaccines and the safety profile of the firm’s current shot, Pfizer said in a recent report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
BioNTech didn’t comment on the recently discovered presence of a DNA enhancer in its vaccine nor on the fact that it and its partner didn’t highlight the enhancer to regulators.
The enhancer leaves behind residual DNA, testing has confirmed, raising concerns among some experts. Regulators have alleged that the levels are safe but haven’t confirmed whether they’ve run their own tests.
Pfizer, Moderna Projections
Pfizer in October revised its revenue projections downward, also citing a lower-than-expected demand for its COVID-19 vaccine.Third-quarter revenues dropped to $13.2 billion, down 42 percent from the same period in 2022, Pfizer said in a statement.
“Both top and bottom line were significantly and negatively impacted by our COVID products,” David Denton, Pfizer’s chief financial officer, told investors.
Only about 4.5 percent of Americans have received one of the new COVID-19 vaccines, according to U.S. authorities.
Moderna on Nov. 2 dropped its forecast sales range to $6 billion from a range of $6 billion to $8 billion in light of the demand issues.
Moderna has already drawn in $3.9 billion in sales and expects about $2.1 billion in additional sales, although some of the projected sales are dependent on 50 million doses being sold in the United States, executives said.
“Our assumption is everyone who has gotten their booster in 2023 will at least get their booster also in 2024 and beyond,” Moderna Chief Commercial Officer Arpa Garay told investors in a call.
Moderna told investors that the company is trying to “increase a sense of urgency to get vaccinated” by encouraging medical providers to recommend vaccination, running digital and television advertisements, and amplifying messages from advocacy groups, executives said.
Multiple companies, including BioNTech, are developing shots that they hope will sell better, including a combination influenza-COVID-19 shot. BioNTech executives said on Nov. 6 that they’re talking with Pfizer about launching a phase 3 trial of the shot on which the companies have been working.
BioNTech is also developing a stand-alone influenza vaccine, and vaccines for shingles, malaria, and monkeypox.
“Our strategy focuses on assembling a diverse toolbox of complementary technologies to deliver novel therapies, aiming to improve the standard of care for cancer patients,” Mr. Sahin told investors. “We combine our internal innovation engine with a high-performance partnership model to transform health care and improve patients’ quality of life.”
