Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[JWeinCom]

SvennoJ said:

I don't whether I should feel disgusted or grateful.... Capitalism at work.

Pfizer said in July it expects revenue from its COVID-19 vaccine to reach $33.5 billion this year, an estimate that could change depending on the impact of boosters or the possible expansion of shots to elementary school children. That would be more than five times the $5.8 billion racked up last year by the world's most lucrative vaccine -- Pfizer's Prevnar13, which protects against pneumococcal disease. It also would dwarf the $19.8 billion brought in last year by AbbVie's rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira, widely regarded as the world's top-selling drug.

This bodes well for future vaccine development, noted Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan. Vaccines normally are nowhere near as profitable as treatments, Gordon said. But the success of the COVID-19 shots could draw more drugmakers and venture capitalists into the field. "The vaccine business is more attractive, which, for those of us who are going to need vaccines, is good," Gordon said.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-boosters-could-mean-billions-for-drugmakers-1.5600439

No one knows yet how many people will get the extra shots. But Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen expects boosters alone to bring in about $26 billion in global sales next year for Pfizer and BioNTech and around $14 billion for Moderna if they are endorsed for nearly all Americans.

While the CDC says: Walensky acknowledged that even with more Americans becoming eligible for Pfizer boosters, the country must ramp up initial vaccination numbers for the pandemic to subside. "I want to be clear: We will not boost our way out of this pandemic," she said Friday.

Further on

Those companies also may gain business from people who got other vaccines initially. In Britain, which plans to offer boosters to everyone over 50 and other vulnerable people, an expert panel has recommended that Pfizer's shot be the primary choice, with Moderna as the alternative.

Andersen expects Moderna, which has no other products on the market, to generate a roughly $13 billion profit next year from all COVID-19 vaccine sales if boosters are broadly authorized.

For Pfizer and Moderna, the boosters could be more profitable than the original doses because they won't come with the research and development costs the companies incurred to get the vaccines on the market in the first place.

WBB Securities CEO Steve Brozak said the booster shots will represent "almost pure profit" compared with the initial doses.

Maybe opt for J&L and AstaZeneca when you have the choice

J&J and Europe's AstraZeneca have said they don't intend to profit from their COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

I would say grateful.

The amount of money saved by the vaccine is certainly in vast vast vast excess of 33.5billion dollars. There was something that was needed, it was produced, and the people who produced it profited. I don't find anything inherently objectionable about that. Just hope that the people who did the actual work got a fat slice of dough.