(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc on Tuesday raised its annual sales forecast for the COVID-19 vaccine it co-developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE, as a vaccination drive across the globe intensifies.
The U.S. drugmaker now expects sales of $26 billion from the vaccine in 2021, up from its prior forecast of about $15 billion. The goal assumes that 1.6 billion vaccine doses will be delivered in the year.
Cost and gross profit from the vaccine are split 50-50 between Pfizer and BioNTech.
Pfizer has said it expects to profit from the vaccine, while some drugmakers including Johnson & Johnson have said their vaccine will be available on a not-for-profit basis until the end of the pandemic.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
