The year 2021 is set to become quite a year for the pharma companies leading the COVID-19 vaccine race, with significant revenues on the line. As some of the most significant players in the market, pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna are set for the lion’s share of 2021 vaccine sales.
According to data presented by Finaria.it, BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines sales are expected to generate $14.7bn in revenue by 2023.
Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Sales Revenue to hit $3.5B in 2021
The call for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments has become louder than ever, with countries worldwide facing the full force of the pandemic’s second wave.
As of January 11, there were over one thousand drugs and vaccines in development targeting the coronavirus disease, revealed the Pharma Intelligence data. More than 60% of them were still in the preclinical phase. However, three candidates were in the pre-registration phase, one candidate registered, and another ten were launched.
On December 2, 2020, the United Kingdom became the first Western country to approve any COVID-19 vaccine when it authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate. The first doses were delivered to British seniors on December 8, 2020. The United States followed as Americans received initial shots on December 14. The vaccine has also been granted emergency approval in Canada and conditional approval in the European Union.
The Evaluate Vantage data show the COVID-19 vaccine from the BioNTech-Pfizer cooperation is set to generate over $3.1bn in sales during 2021. However, this figure is expected to drop to under $1.4bn in 2022 and continue falling in the next few years.
The significant downside of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine is its need for ultra-cold storage. Many countries don’t have the required cold chain logistics and most likely won’t have it in the years to come. In 2023, the BionTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine sales is forecast to generate $914 million, almost 3.5 times less than in 2021.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna Therapeutics, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, is expected to generate over $3.5bn in revenue this year, $400 million more than the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.
This vaccine has been approved in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada and Israel. Statistics show the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine’s annual sales revenue is expected to remain around $2.9bn in the next two years.
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AstraZeneca/Oxford Vaccine Leads in the Number of Ordered Doses
Although Pfizer and Moderna are set for the lion’s share of 2021 vaccine sales, the Bloomberg data show AstraZeneca is the drug manufacturer with the highest number of ordered COVID-19 vaccine doses.
At the beginning of 2021, there were pre-purchase agreements for almost three billion doses for AstraZeneca/Oxford’s vaccine. One of its biggest advantages is the ability to be stored at average refrigerator temperatures, while other vaccines need ultra-cold storage.
Although still in phase III of clinical trials and without approval, Novavax’s vaccine is the second-highest by the number of orders worldwide or almost 1.3 billion. Statistics show BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine hit 816 million ordered doses as of last week. Gamaleya, Sanofi/GSK, and Moderna followed, with 727 million, 712 million, and 441 million orders, respectively.
As of January 10, 2021, a total of 25.8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered worldwide. Statistics show China accounted for almost one-third of that number, with 9 million vaccine doses. The United States ranked second with more than 8 million dosed administrated as of the last week. The United Kingdom, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates follow with 2 million, 1.8 million, and 1 million doses, respectively.
