Expiring Pfizer Covid drug doses set to cost Europe US$2.2 billion
STOCKPILES of Pfizer’s Paxlovid worth US$2.2 billion are set to expire by the end of next month in Europe and the UK as demand for the Covid-19 treatment plummets.
The outdated supply includes US$1.1 billion worth of doses that had already expired as of November, according to the London-based analytics firm Airfinity. The UK has seen the biggest chunk go to waste with an estimated 1 million past-date courses at a cost of some US$700 million, Airfinity said in a report.
Soaring death counts near the height of the pandemic spurred governments to invest heavily in Paxlovid, still the most effective treatment for Covid. As vaccination and infections have conferred widespread immunity, serious cases have become less common, curtailing use of the drug.
Countries “had a difficult challenge of estimating demand at a critical stage in the pandemic,” Airfinity life-science analyst Marco Gallotta said in the report. “This doesn’t necessarily mean that higher uptake wasn’t desirable and could have saved lives and hospitalisations, but the reduction in testing reduced demand.”
Many countries still require that patients test positive for Covid before they can receive the drug, Airfinity said.
The unused doses are another sign of the public’s receding concern about the pandemic, and of Pfizer’s need for new products like the cancer drugs gained in its US$43 billion deal for Seagen. Falling sales of the antiviral were among the driving forces for the company to cut its 2023 sales guidance while issuing a stock-deflating forecast for this year.
The drugmaker agreed last year to take back 7.9 million courses of Paxlovid that were set to expire soon in exchange for a credit for future supplies. Pfizer is now working to sell the drug directly to US health providers via commercial channels.
Pfizer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG
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