Pfizer condemned for ‘obscene’ $100bn pandemic windfall

Pfizer condemned for ‘obscene’ $100bn pandemic windfall

Date: 28 July 2022
Campaigns: Pharma

  • US pharma company makes second-quarter 2022 vaccine revenues of $27.7 billion and forecasts 2022 revenues of $98 to $102 billion overall (1)
  • Pfizer is set to become the first pharmaceutical company to make $100bn in a year.
  • Pfizer’s revenues for 2022 are projected to be 25% higher than its figures for 2021 and more than double its 2020 revenues of $41.7 billion
  • During the first 6 months of 2022, Pfizer has returned $6.5 billion to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends, compared to $5.1 billion spent on research and development projects

Reacting to the news of US vaccine maker Pfizer’s second quarter results, Tim Bierley, pharma campaigner at Global Justice Now said:

“Pfizer is set for an obscene $100 billion pandemic windfall in 2022, even as the world remains billions of doses away from vaccinating everyone. After eighteen months of refusing to share its life-saving vaccine technology with countries in the global south, now we face a situation where huge parts of the world can’t access Pfizer’s life-saving Covid-19 treatment (2). This is all because of a business model that puts shareholder greed before people’s lives.

Two years of terrible vaccine inequality have led to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths (3), yet the only lesson Pfizer has learnt is that billions can be made from a publicly-funded medicine. As leaders consider how we prepare for future pandemics (4), the priority must be to replace this pharmaceutical model, which illogically rewards the hoarding of scientific knowledge. It’s time for a more cooperative, less profit-centred system, which puts global public health first.”

ENDS

Global Justice Now is a UK-based campaigning organisation and part of the People’s Vaccine Alliance.

Notes

  1. Pfizer reports first-quarter 2022 results: https://s28.q4cdn.com/781576035/files/doc_financials/2022/q2/Q2-2022-PFE-Earnings-Release.pdf
  2. Pfizer’s Paxlovid Goes Generic in 95 Countries – Too Little, Too Late, say Access Advocates, 17 March 2022: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/pfizers-paxlovid-goes-generic-in-95-countries-too-little-too-late-critics-say/
  3. Covid vaccines cut global death toll by 20m in first year, June 24: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/24/covid-vaccines-cut-global-death-toll-20m-first-year-study
  4. A pandemic treaty for equitable global access to medical countermeasures: seven recommendations, July 2022: https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/7/e009709

Photo: Alexandru Nika/Shutterstock