Pfizer (PFE -0.19%) just delivered the best quarter in the company's history. Its first-quarter revenue topped $25.6 billion. Adjusted profits totaled more than $9.3 billion.
The drugmaker isn't done yet. And it's likely to go beyond notching wins against its own historical performance. Pfizer is poised to shatter these two biopharmaceutical industry records in 2022.
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1. Best-selling non-vaccine drug ever
Pfizer's Comirnaty already holds the title as the best-selling drug in a single year. The COVID-19 vaccine generated nearly $36.8 billion in 2021. No other drug has ever come close to that sales level.
Currently, AbbVie's (ABBV -1.03%) Humira reigns as the world's best-selling non-vaccine drug. Last year, the autoimmune-disease drug raked in close to $20.7 billion. That broke the previous record of single-year sales for a non-vaccine drug of $19.8 billion set by Humira in 2020.
But Humira seems unlikely to remain at the top for very long. Pfizer's guidance projects that its COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, will make at least $22 billion this year.
Pfizer didn't increase its sales outlook for Paxlovid in its first-quarter update. However, the company is set to produce 120 million treatment courses in 2022. It doesn't have to sell all of those courses to make a lot more than $22 billion.
2. Most revenue for a pharma company
Thanks in large part to the anticipated surge in sales for Paxlovid, Pfizer is also on track to generate the most annual revenue for a pharmaceutical company ever in 2022. The company currently expects full-year revenue of between $98 billion and $102 billion.
Last year, Pfizer reported revenue of nearly $81.3 billion. This set an all-time high for the company. However, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -0.69%) made $93.8 billion in 2021. That's the record Pfizer seems likely to beat this year.
J&J's revenue total, though, probably should come with an asterisk in the context of determining the most annual revenue for a pharma company. While pharmaceuticals ranked as the healthcare giant's top moneymaker, its consumer health and medical device segments contributed nearly $41.7 billion in sales.
But Pfizer's anticipated 2022 revenue will come entirely from pharmaceuticals. Comirnaty's sales probably won't be as high as they were last year but should still approach $32 billion. As previously mentioned, Paxlovid will kick in at least $22 billion. Pfizer also has plenty of other megablockbusters, notably including its Prevnar vaccines, blood thinner Eliquis, and rare heart disease drug Vyndaqel/Vyndamax.
Will 2022 be Pfizer's peak?
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla stated in the company's Q1 call that new innovations could change the dynamics in the COVID-19 market in 2023. He also thinks that it's possible that the U.S. will transition to a private market next year. Both factors could create headwinds for Paxlovid sales.
The consensus for Comirnaty sales next year is in the ballpark of $17 billion to $18 billion. That's a significant decline from the $32 billion in sales that Pfizer projects for this year.
Sure, sales for many of Pfizer's other products should increase. However, the company only expects an average of 6% annual non-COVID-19 revenue growth through 2025. It then faces the loss of exclusivity for several top-selling drugs.
It seems likely that Pfizer will indeed break the records this year for the highest sales for a non-vaccine drug and the most annual revenue for a pharma company ever. But don't look for those potential new records to be broken by Pfizer or anyone else in the near future.
