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Tag: Pfizer

  • Pfizer Poised to Raise COVID Vaccine Prices Significantly

    Pfizer Poised to Raise COVID Vaccine Prices Significantly

    Pfizer is preparing to raise prices for its COVID-19 vaccine, potentially buoying the company’s revenue for years.

    Pfizer is one of the leading manufacturers of COVID vaccines, but demand for booster shots has been lower than expected. According to Reuters, the company is looking to make up for that slack demand by raising prices as much as 4x over current prices.

    The company plans to charge anywhere between $110 to $130 a dose once the US transitions from subsidized dosages to a commercialized market. At the same time, Pfizer plans to honor existing agreements it has through 2023.

    Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal said the price hikes could add billions to Pfizer’s annual revenue.

    “This is much higher than our assumption of $50 per shot, and even assuming $80 per shot net price in high-income countries, we see $2 per share upside to our estimates” as a result of the price increase, Bansal wrote in a research note.

  • FDA Authorizes Pfizer’s Pill to Treat COVID-19

    FDA Authorizes Pfizer’s Pill to Treat COVID-19

    In a potential game-changer in the fight against COVID, the FDA has approved Pfizer’s pill to treat COVID.

    While governments are working hard to get as many people vaccinated as possible, companies have also been working on better ways of treating those that contract the virus in the hopes of preventing the worst symptoms from developing.

    Pfizer has now received authorization for the first pill designed to do just that.

    “Today’s authorization introduces the first treatment for COVID-19 that is in the form of a pill that is taken orally — a major step forward in the fight against this global pandemic,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “This authorization provides a new tool to combat COVID-19 at a crucial time in the pandemic as new variants emerge and promises to make antiviral treatment more accessible to patients who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.” 

    The pill, Pfizer’s Paxlovid, is not designed as a preventative medication, but should be taken “soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within five days of symptom onset.”

    Having an effective way to treat the virus after infection could save tens, or even hundreds of thousands of lives moving forward.

  • Arthritis Drug Approved by the U.S. FDA

    Arthritis Drug Approved by the U.S. FDA

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week approved Xeljanz (tofacitinib) for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adults who have not responded to methotrexate.

    The twice-daily pill works by blocking molecules known as “Janus kinases.” The approval was based on the medication’s approval was based on its demonstrated effectiveness and safety in seven clinical trials. In all of the trials, adults with moderate to severe RA “experienced improvement in clinical response and physical functioning” when treated with Xeljanz. The drug was, however, associated with an increased increases in cholesterol and an increased risk of serious infections, including tuberculosis, cancers, and lymphoma.

    “RA is a serious and disabling disease that affects people in their everyday lives, and many patients do not adequately respond or are intolerant to currently available therapies,” said Dr. Stanley Cohen, study investigator and clinical professor of rheumatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. “In clinical trials, Xeljanz significantly reduced the signs and symptoms of RA and improved physical function. As a physician, I am pleased that we have another choice for patients living with inadequately controlled, moderately to severely active RA.”

    According to the FDA, RA is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy tissue, leading to the inflammation of joints. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that it affects 1.5 million Americans.

    Xeljanz was developed by Pfizer, and the company has agreed to conduct post-marketing clinical trials to evaluate the long-term safety of the drug.

  • Leukemia Drug Approved by the FDA

    Pfizer this week announced that Bosulif, a medication it developed for the treatment of a rare type of Leukemia, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

    The medication is approved for the treatment of adults with chronic, accelerated, or blast phase Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) that has resisted prior therapy. The American Cancer Society estimates that almost 5,500 new CML cases will be diagnosed in 2012, and that just over 600 people will die of the disease. Just over 10% of new leukemia cases are CML, and over half of the people who get it are over the age of 65. According to Pfizer, Bosulif blocks CML cell growth by inhibiting the Abl and Src signaling pathways.

    “Bosulif is an important new addition to the CML treatment landscape,” said Dr. Jorge Cortes, professor of medicine in the Department of Leukemia at the University of Texas, and a lead investigator of the Pfizer’s registrational study for Bosulif. “Despite recent advances, an unmet need remains for many CML patients who are refractory to one or more tyrosine kinase inhibitors.”

    Bosulif was quickly approved because of its status as an orphan drug. Orphan drugs are drugs that have been developed to treat rare diseases and conditions. In the U.S. and E.U., orphan drugs are fast-tracked for approval, and companies can often charge a premium for them. The wildly expensive scorpion antivenom Anascorp is another example of a recently approved orphan drug.