Pfizer’s First-Quarter Results: A Solid Start to the Year

Pfizer’s first-quarter 2023 results demonstrated strong financial and operational progress, as the company continued to execute on and plan for an unprecedented number of potential new product and indication launches. These medicines and vaccines cut across a range of therapeutic areas and, if approved, represent a tremendous opportunity to improve health outcomes for patients around the world.

Pfizer reported revenues of $18.3 billion, reflecting a 26 percent operational decline. This decline was primarily due to a decrease in global revenues from its COVID-19 vaccine, as well as an unfavorable foreign exchange impact of $730 million, or 3 percent. Revenues grew 5 percent operationally excluding contributions from the company’s COVID-19 products. The company’s COVID-19 products remained significant contributors to the business with a combined $7.1 billion in revenues during the quarter.

Quarterly reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.97, reflecting a 29 percent year-over-year decline. Quarterly adjusted diluted EPS[1] was $1.23, reflecting a 24 percent year-over-year decline. The company also reaffirmed all components of its full-year 2023 financial guidance. Please reference Pfizer’s first-quarter 2023 earnings release for additional information regarding Pfizer’s financial guidance details and assumptions.

Pfizer remained committed to making an impact that furthers its purpose to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. During the first quarter, more than 250 million patients were treated with our medicines and vaccines.[2] The company also continued to reinvest capital in future growth initiatives and in March announced the proposed acquisition of Seagen Inc., a global biotechnology company that discovers, develops and commercializes transformative cancer medicines.

“We believe the strength of our in-line products and expected near-term launches and revenue contribution from business development activities, including the proposed acquisition of Seagen, will position Pfizer to deliver robust operational growth through 2025 and beyond,” said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

For more details, read Pfizer’s first-quarter 2023 earnings release.

Delivering Scientific Breakthroughs

This is an exciting time for Pfizer, as the company seeks to address diseases in novel ways with transformative medicines and vaccines. The company is in the midst of an 18-month period in which it expects to launch up to 19 potential new products and indications and has made great progress toward this goal.

In addition to obtaining U.S. marketing approvals for a new treatment and two expanded indications of its existing medicines and vaccines, Pfizer continued to advance its innovative pipeline. Within its oncology portfolio, the company secured regulatory filing acceptances for several medicines this year to help treat individuals with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and for those with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

Also noteworthy within the quarter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted for priority review, the company’s application for its Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) maternal vaccine candidate. If approved, it would be the first prenatal vaccine for administration to pregnant individuals to help protect against RSV complications in infants, from birth through six months of age.

The company anticipates these and several other potential launches to occur in the second half of 2023, subject to regulatory approval.

Returning Value to Shareholders

Pfizer continued its plans to deploy capital to fuel future growth and return capital directly to shareholders.

During the first three months of 2023, Pfizer reinvested $2.5 billion in internal R&D projects and returned capital directly to shareholders through $2.3 billion of cash dividends.

Notably, Pfizer announced a definitive merger agreement for the acquisition of Seagen. A pioneer in antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology, Seagen brings a best-in-class portfolio of cancer medicines and a deep pipeline. This proposed acquisition represents an important step forward in Pfizer’s commitment to expanding its leadership in oncology.

When combining the expected strong growth trajectories for Seagen’s in-line medicines with candidates that could emerge from Seagen’s pipeline, subject to clinical and regulatory success, the company believes Seagen could contribute more than $10 billion in risk-adjusted revenues in 2030, with potential significant growth beyond 2030. The transaction is expected to close in late 2023 or early 2024, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions, including approval of Seagen’s stockholders and receipt of required regulatory approvals.

“Our first-quarter results were in line with our expectations, underlining our continued confidence in achieving 7% to 9% operational revenue growth for fiscal-year 2023, excluding our COVID-19 products and anticipated foreign exchange impacts. We expect the majority of this growth to occur in the second half of 2023, given the timing of our expected near-term launches,” said David Denton, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President.

Please see below earnings highlights and visit Pfizer’s Investor’s site for more information.

[1] Adjusted income and Adjusted diluted EPS are defined as U.S. GAAP net income attributable to Pfizer Inc. common shareholders and Reported diluted EPS attributable to Pfizer Inc. common shareholders before the impact of amortization of intangible assets, certain acquisition-related items, discontinued operations and certain significant items. See the reconciliations of certain GAAP Reported to Non-GAAP Adjusted information for first-quarter 2023 and 2022 accompanying Pfizer’s first-quarter 2023 earnings release. Adjusted income and its components and Adjusted diluted EPS measures are not, and should not be viewed as, substitutes for U.S. GAAP net income and its components and diluted EPS. See the Non-GAAP Financial Measure: Adjusted Income section of Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Pfizer’s 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the accompanying Non-GAAP Financial Measure: Adjusted Income section of Pfizer’s first-quarter 2023 earnings release for additional information. 

[2] The Patients Treated metric is calculated from Pfizer and third-party datasets. Figures may be limited given the coverage provided by external sources (e.g., calendar duration, geographic and product coverage). Numbers are estimates and in some cases use global volume, daily dosage and number of treatment days to facilitate calculations. Methodologies to calculate estimates may vary by product type given the nature of the product and available data. Patients taking multiple Pfizer products may be counted as multiple patients towards total. Numbers include estimated patient counts from U.S. Patient Assistance Programs, ex-U.S. access & affordability programs, product donations and Global Commercial Access Partnerships (this does not include An Accord for a Healthier World). Historical estimates may periodically be subject to revision due to restatements in the underlying data source.

Forward-looking statements included herein, including those related to our anticipated operating and financial performance, our anticipated product launches and our proposed acquisition of Seagen, are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. We encourage you to read our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the sections captioned “Risk Factors” and “Forward Looking Information and Factors that May Affect Future Results,” for a description of such substantial risks and uncertainties. These reports are available at www.pfizer.com and the SEC’s website at sec.gov. Also reference Pfizer’s first-quarter 2023 earnings release for additional information regarding our financial guidance details and assumptions.

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