Pfizer expands production as quarterly earnings surge to $3.5 billion

Pfizer has earned $3.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021, as the ramped up sales of the COVID-19 vaccine boosted its projected annual earnings to $26 billion.

The American pharmaceutical company announced on Tuesday that it has raised its annual revenue guidance to up to $72.5 billion, up from $61.4 billion, predominantly due to the contractual delivery of 1.6 billion vaccine doses in 2021.

The pharmaceutical company splits its coronavirus vaccine profits with its development partner BioNTech.

According to the organisation's Chief Executive Albert Bourla, the reported diluted earnings per share was around $0.86 and that sales were drawn from over 50 countries.

In a statement, Bourla mentioned that "I couldn’t be prouder of the way Pfizer has started 2021 [...] we continued to accelerate production and shipments of our COVID-19 vaccine – in many cases exceeding our contractual obligations for delivery timelines".

As of the 3rd of May, 430 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed to 91 countries, as Pfizer plans to apply for full FDA approval of its vaccine for adolescent use by the end of May.

Bourla added that he expected “durable demand” for the Covid-19 vaccine, similar to the flu vaccines.