Pfizer lifts annual profit forecast on strong cancer, heart drug sales

(Reuters) – Pfizer (NYSE:), which is dealing with a sharp revenue drop from COVID products, raised its annual profit forecast on Tuesday, helped by the addition of new cancer treatments from its $43 billion deal for Seagen and strong sales of its heart disease drug.

Pfizer also said it was expecting full-year revenue of $3.5 billion from its antiviral drug, Paxlovid, which is used in high-risk COVID cases, up from its previous expectation of $3 billion.

Shares of the company rose 2% at $31.34 in premarket trading.

With the pandemic becoming less severe, the market for pharmaceutical products used in managing COVID-19 has quickly disappeared, eroding billions of dollars in sales of vaccines and treatments for companies such as Pfizer.

The acquisition of Seagen last year has helped offset some of those losses as the company sharpens its focus on cancer treatments.

Quarterly sales of Comirnaty vaccine, which it makes with German partner BioNTech (NASDAQ:), came in at $195 million and Paxlovid sales were $251 million. Analysts were expecting sales of $176 million for Comirnaty and $247.7 million for Paxlovid, according to LSEG data.

Pfizer’s heart disease drug, sold under brand names Vyndaqel or Vyndamax, recorded quarterly sales of $1.32 billion, above analysts’ estimate of $1.12 billion.

New Jersey-based Pfizer now expects annual profit to be in the range of $2.45 to $2.65 per share, compared with its prior profit forecast of $2.15 to $2.35 per share.