The company has already profited greatly from the vaccine it developed in partnership with German biotech BioNTech under the name Comirnaty, selling it for $36.8 billion in 2021.

Its revenue jumped 95% to $81.3 billion, and its net profit more than doubled to $22 billion.

Pfizer expected to sell only $15 billion worth of its anti-Covid vaccine in early 2021 before raising its forecast several times.

It announced in January that it had launched a clinical trial to test a version specifically targeting the Omicron variant.

As for its anti-Covid pill, a treatment marketed under the name Paxlovid authorized at the end of December in the United States, Pfizer has already sold 72 million dollars in 2021.

Forecasts for 2022 are based on contracts and commitments made at the end of January and could therefore increase further.

Pfizer expects total revenue of between $98 billion and $102 billion for this year and adjusted earnings per share of between $6.35 and $6.55, which is a little below forecasts.

Analysts also expected slightly higher sales at the end of 2021.

The stock was down nearly 4% in pre-opening electronic trading on Wall Street.

In the fourth quarter alone, the group achieved a turnover of 23.8 billion dollars and generated a net profit of 3.4 billion dollars.

© 2022 AFP