Pfizer bets on cancer drugs to recover from rapid decline of COVID business
By: Shannon T.
Pfizer is pushing to be more involved in cancer drugs after a turbulent year marked by the rapid decline of its COVID business.
During a four-hour investor event last week, Pfizer pushed its initative to “accelerate breakthroughs that help people with cancer globally live better and longer lives,” according to CNBC.
The drugmaker has ramped up its efforts to “outdo cancer” since it acquired oncology biotech firm Seagen for $43 billion in December.
The acquisition doubled Pfizer’s cancer drug pipeline to 60 different experimental programs, CNBC reported, while the company has said that it can produce at least eight blockbuster medicines by 2030 – up from just five today.
It wasn’t immediately clear which drugs Pfizer believes could offer up the potential to “outdo cancer.”
Analysts have advised that it will take a few years for some of the company’s cancer drugs that are currently in mid-stage decelopment to show pivotal clinical trial data and become less risky, according to CNBC.
“The company is facing a number of challenges,” Guggenheim analysts wrote in a note Tuesday, CNBC reported, referring to competitive pressure facing Pfizer’s existing oncology portfolio.
For example, revenue from breast cancer drug Ibrance and prostate cancer treatment Xtandi have declined in recent months. Pfizer has shared those funds with Astellas Pharma since 2009, when the two pharmaceutical companies agreed to jointly develop and commercialize what have become poplular cancer treatments.
Both drugs are expected to lose market exclusivity in 2027, CNBC reported, at which point other manufacturers will be able to duplicate or reformulate the products.
Chris Boshoff, a longtime Pfizer executive who leads Pfizer’s oncology research and development, said during the investor event that Pfizer has 10 manufacturing sites producing cancer drugs on three continents, while Seagen had just one, per CNBC.
He also noted that Pfizer boasts a commercial presence in more than 100 countries and a customer-facing commercial team that is triple the size of Seagen’s.
He did not elaborate onspecific sales projection for Pfizer’s oncology franchise by 2030, aside from the fact that it’s expecting $10 billion in sales by 2030 as a result of the Seagen acquisition.
However, the company has said that it’s anticipating roughly two-thirds of risk-adjusted oncology revenue to come from new drugs and new indications – or treatment uses – for existing products by the end of the decade, according to CNBC.
Guggenheim analysts said in their note last week: “We believe the event was a success in laying out a path for the oncology business to help offset upcoming patent losses, and drive growth in the future.”
Representatives for Pfizer did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The “outdo cancer” catchphrase caught on during Pfizer’s 60–second Super Bowl ad that it reportedly spent more than $14 million on – which boasted the big pharma company’s 175-history as as famous scientists like Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein rocked out to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
The shift comes at a crucial time for the New York-based firm, which needs support from shareholders following a rocky 2023, when its shares fell more than 40% and erased more than $100 billion from its market value, according to CNBC.
Last year, Pfizer also saw revenues plummet 41% to $58.5 billion “due primarily to the expected decline in COVID-19 revenues,” the company said in its latest earnings report.
