(Reuters) – Pfizer has turned to multi-billion deals, an internal restructuring and a massive cost-cutting program as the U.S. drugmaker battles a steep fall in demand for its COVID-19 products.
The company on Wednesday forecast revenue from its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment to be $8 billion in 2024, a far cry from the $57 billion in 2022.
A look at the company’s efforts to drive growth in a post-pandemic world:
DEALS
In March, Pfizer announced a $43 billion acquisition of drugmaker Seagen to bring into its fold four approved cancer therapies. The deal is expected to close later this week and add $3.5 billion to sales next year.
Last year, the company struck an $11.6 billion deal for migraine drug maker Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding and bought Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4 billion, adding sickle cell disease treatment Oxbryta to its pipeline.
It has also made equity investments in cell therapy developer Caribou Sciences and Akero Therapeutics, a developer of drugs for a type of fatty liver disease, in the past two years.
COST CUTS
Pfizer has launched a cost-cutting program that targets savings of $4 billion annually by the end of 2024. It entails a one-time cost of around $3 billion and includes layoffs.
The company cut 500 jobs at its Sandwich, Kent site in the UK in November as part of its cost-cutting plan.
RESTRUCTURING
On Tuesday, Pfizer said it would split its commercial business outside of oncology into two divisions, one focused on the United States and the other the rest of the world.
NEW APPROVALS
The U.S. health regulator in March approved the company’s nasal spray for migraine, which it gained through its $11.6 billion buyout of Biohaven Pharmaceutical.
Its vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease in children aged six weeks to 17 years was approved in the U.S. in April.
Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine also gained approval for older adults in May and pregnant women in August. Morningstar analyst Damien Conover has estimated peak annual sales close to $2 billion for the drug.
PIPELINE
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine to prevent flu and COVID-19 generated a strong immune response against strains of the viruses in an early- to mid-stage trial.
However, earlier this month Pfizer said it would not advance its twice-daily version of oral weight-loss drug danuglipron into late-stage studies. It will continue working on a once-daily version.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Khushi Mandowara in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
