Pfizer and Moderna could earn $32 billion in revenues from their COVID-19 vaccines in 2021
- Pfizer and Moderna could earn $32 billion in revenues from their COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 alone, according to Wall Street estimates.
- Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are set to make roughly $19 billion, according to Morgan Stanley estimates, which project the companies could make almost $30 billion in vaccine revenues by the end of 2023.
- Pfizer expects to supply up to 1.3 billion doses of its shot in 2021, while Moderna expects to manufacture between 500 million and 1 billion doses.
- This could earn Moderna $13.2 billion in revenues, according to a Goldman Sachs note to investors.
US drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna could rake in around $32 billion in revenues from their COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, according to Wall Street estimates.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech will bring in roughly $19 billion from global sales of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, according to Morgan Stanley estimates first reported by CNN on Friday.
The drugmaker expects to supply up to 1.3 billion doses during 2021, when more countries begin to approve shots and start mass immunization programs.
Pfizer could still generate around $975 million in revenues from its vaccine this year, Morgan Stanley said. Pfizer's shot has become the first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized for emergency use in the West, and the company said it could supply up to 50 million doses before the end of 2020.
The UK became the first country to administer the shot outside of clinical trials on December 8, and both Canada and the US are set to start rolling out vaccines this week.
In addition, Pfizer could bring in a further $9.3 billion from vaccine sales over 2022 and 2023, Morgan Stanley said.
These revenues will be split with BioNTech, the German company it developed the vaccine alongside.
Moderna's vaccine is yet to be approved for use, but it is "likely" to be green-lit by Friday, according to Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed.
The drugmaker said it expects to manufacture between 500 million and 1 billion doses of its vaccine in 2021, which could bring in around $13.2 billion in revenues, according to a December 3 Goldman Sachs note to investors.
Morgan Stanley had lower estimates. Moderna will generate between $10 billion and $15 billion across both 2021 and 2022 from selling its vaccine, it said.
Moderna is expected to bring in around a further $2 billion to $3 billion in sales of additional booster shots, Morgan Stanley said.
Pfizer's vaccine development was self-funded
Moderna has received funding through Operation Warp Speed, a federal initiative to fund the development of COVID-19 vaccines in the US. Pfizer, in comparison, didn't join the initiative, and said in November that its vaccine development and manufacturing costs "have been entirely self-funded, with billions of dollars already invested at risk."
Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, both of whom are developing COVID-19 vaccines, have promised to not make a profit from the sales of their shots during the pandemic - though AstraZeneca's pledge could effectively end as early as June 2021.
Rich countries have been accused of hoarding vaccines, making it more difficult for developing nations to control their outbreaks. And the cost of doses isn't the only hurdle to distributing vaccines globally: Countries also have to transport, store, and administer the shots.
Cargo airline execs have already warned that getting a COVID-19 vaccine to everyone on Earth could take up to two years, saying that it could be "one of the biggest challenges for the transportation industry."
Hospitals in the US have scrambled to buy hyper-cold freezers to store Pfizer's vaccine at -94 degrees Fahrenheit. The vaccine requires a network of deep-freeze airport warehouses and refrigerated vehicles for its transportation.
In lower-income countries experts have warned that governments may have to wait until 2024 before they are able immunize the majority of their population.