Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Jul 20, 2025

Pfizer accused of Covid profiteering as first-quarter sales hit $26bn

Pfizer accused of Covid profiteering as first-quarter sales hit $26bn

Pharma firm criticised over pricing and for keeping monopoly control over vaccine and new Paxlovid pill
Pfizer has made nearly $26bn (£21bn) in revenues in the first three months of the year, the bulk from its Covid-19 vaccine and new pill to treat the virus, prompting fresh accusations of pandemic profiteering.

Covid vaccines have saved many lives around the world and relieved the pressure on health systems, but Pfizer has faced criticism over its vaccine pricing and its refusal to waive patent protection to enable others to make the jab.

Last week 35 campaigners from Global Justice Now, Act-Up London, Just Treatment and Stop Aids protested against what they call pandemic profiteering, and delivered wheelbarrows full of fake money to Pfizer’s UK headquarters in Surrey on the day of the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

The New York-based firm posted total sales of $25.7bn in the first quarter, up 77% from a year earlier. Of this, $13.2bn came from the Comirnaty jab it developed with Germany’s BioNTech, driven by global uptake including jabs for children over the age of five, and booster doses. Pfizer and BioNTech are also seeking US approval for the vaccine’s use in children from six months to four years old.

A further $1.5bn came from Paxlovid, a Covid pill for people who are at high risk of severe disease, including hospitalisation or death. The treatment received emergency approval from the US regulator in late December and has been cleared by the UK and EU.

Pfizer has made tens of billions of dollars during the pandemic from its Covid-related products, as has the Boston-based biotech firm Moderna, which was loss-making until it started selling a Covid-19 vaccine.

Tim Bierley, a pharma campaigner at Global Justice Now, said: “Throughout the pandemic, Pfizer has refused to share its technology and knowhow. Instead, it has maintained monopoly control over its vaccine and treatment, keeping a chokehold on global supply.

“Despite calls from campaigners to allow countries in the global south to manufacture their own vaccines and treatments, Pfizer continues to put profit over people’s health. Pfizer’s revenues almost doubled last year and now it looks like the company’s coffers are set to swell even further. At a time when millions still don’t have access to vaccines or treatments for Covid-19, this continued pandemic profiteering is harrowing.”

Pfizer’s revenues last year doubled to $81.3bn, and it expects to make record sales of $98bn to $102bn this year, half of which will come from Covid products – $32bn from Comirnaty and $22bn from Paxlovid.

On the issue of sharing intellectual property, Pfizer said others would struggle to produce its mRNA vaccine – one of only two on the market – arguing that “it is not as simple as sharing the ‘recipe’”. Manufacture of its vaccine involves more than 280 materials from 86 suppliers in 19 countries.

Other companies, led by AstraZeneca, Britain’s biggest drugmaker, and Johnson & Johnson, a big US firm, went down the not-for-profit route and priced their Covid vaccines at cost during the pandemic. Towards the end of last year, AstraZeneca moved away from its not-for-profit pricing in new contracts, but insists that it is still offering “equitable pricing”.

Pfizer said it also offered tiered pricing, with the wealthier nations paying in the range of about the cost of a takeaway meal, while the upper-middle-income countries were offered doses at roughly half that price and the low- and lower-middle-income countries were offered doses at a not-for-profit price.

In March, the company struck an agreement with Unicef to supply up to 4m treatment courses of Paxlovid to 95 low- and middle-income countries at a not-for-profit price.

Moderna has promised not to enforce its coronavirus vaccine patents in some low- and middle-income countries.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
×