Drugmaker Pfizer starts low with 2023 earnings forecast

By TOM MURPHY
AP Health Writer

Pfizer surprised Wall Street on Tuesday by predicting bigger-than-expected sales drops this year for two key products: its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment. The drugmaker also debuted an earnings forecast that fell below analyst expectations. Pfizer said it expects sales of both the vaccine Comirnaty and the treatment Paxlovid to tumble next year before starting to rebound. That drop was anticipated by analysts, but the degree of the expected fall was not. Pfizer forecasts Comirnaty sales to tumble 64%. It predicts a 58% drop for Paxlovid. Analysts still expect the vaccine and treatment to be key contributors to future growth.