(Reuters) -Pfizer Inc maintained sales forecasts for its COVID-19 products for the first time since launching its coronavirus vaccine, in a sign that the dizzying growth of the past few quarters has slowed.
The company said it expects $22 billion in sales of its COVID pill Paxlovid this year, compared with analysts’ average expectation of $26.1 billion.
Pfizer had previously said that its forecast for $22 billion in Paxlovid sales only represents a fraction of the 120 million courses the company is able to manufacture this year.
The company’s reluctance to lift the forecast could suggest that it did not sign significant new sales contracts for the pill during the first quarter.
In prepared remarks for the company’s conference call with investors, Chief Executive Albert Bourla said the company had seen a significant pickup in the drug’s use in the United States recently and said that some countries that have experienced recent outbreaks have asked for more treatment courses.
The drugmaker also reiterated its forecast of $32 billion in sales from the vaccine it developed with BioNTech. It has raised the forecast for the vaccine’s sales every quarter in 2021.
“Sales (of the vaccine) are expected to eventually slow as an increasing percentage of the global population receive a complete vaccination course,” said Millie Gray, analyst at Informa Pharma Intelligence.
At the request of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, several drug companies have adjusted their forecasts to include expenses from milestone payments and acquisitions.
The company said it now expects full-year adjusted profit of $6.25 to $6.45 per share, below its prior forecast of $6.35 to $6.55, mostly due to the impact of those expenses.
Pfizer’s shares fell nearly 1% to $47.94 in choppy premarket trading.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)