Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE, Financial) quest for an effective Covid-19 vaccine is front and center in the news—rightfully so considering the urgent health care solutions needed due to the pandemic. But the fourth-biggest vaccine manufacturer in the world announced during a virtual investor event on Monday that it also has several inoculations in phase 3 testing that should make it an even bigger market player.
One of the vaccines is a follow-up to the company's Prevnar, the best-selling pneumonia vaccine in the world with revenues of nearly $6 billion last year. FiercePharma reported that SVB Leerink analysts wrote to clients in a letter that the company will likely apply for approval from the Food and Drug Administration later this year and the enhanced shot could be approved in the middle of 2021. The new product would compete with a next-generation pneumonia vaccine from Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK, Financial), the world's biggest vaccine maker. Merck also plans to submit its product for approval this year.
In addition to its pneumonia program, Pfizer has three other vaccines in late-stage testing that could generate substantial sales to 2028, the analysts said, summarizing Pfizer management comments. One shot is to prevent meningitis and the other for C. difficile, a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. The third is a maternal vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus.
Pfizer execs seemed to indicate the three vaccines could match Prevnar sales in the coming years, although the analysts thought this forecast seemed a bit bullish.
On the Covid-19 front, Pfizer and its development partner BioNTech SE (BNTX, Financial) released test data earlier this week showing that the great majority of patients in its Covid-19 vaccine study group experienced only mild to moderate side effects, with a few people having a more severe reaction.
Pfizer executive Angela Hwang emphasized that Pfizer and BioNTech are the onlyCovid-19 vaccine developers that cover all bases, from research to manufacturing to delivery. The partners hope to deliver 100 million doses this year and 1.3 billion in 2021. Pfizer is also discussing a second-generation, one-dose vaccine for next year or later.
According to Fortune Business Insights, the global vaccines market is expected to reach more than $100 billion by 2027, growing at a compound rate of 10.7%
In addition to Pfizer and Merck, the list of the biggest vaccine manufacturers include GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, Financial), Sanofi (SNY, Financial), Novavax Inc. (NVAX, Financial), Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS, Financial), CSL Ltd. (ASX:CSL), Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INO, Financial), Bavarian Nordic A/S (OCSE:BAVA) and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. (MTZPY).
Disclosure: The author has a position in Pfizer.
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