Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Will Pfizer's (PFE) BioPharma Unit Q1 Earnings Increase?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Pfizer’s (PFE - Free Report) Biopharmaceuticals Group comprises six business units — Oncology, Inflammation & Immunology, Rare Disease, Hospital, Vaccines and Internal Medicine. It is the company’s key top-line driver.

Within the Biopharma group, oncology sales are likely to have risen in the first quarter, driven by higher sales of Ibrance, Inlyta, Xalkori and alliance revenues from Astellas for Xtandi.

Continued strong uptake in international markets and consistent CDK class market share growth in the United States are likely to have driven Ibrance’s sales. Importantly, U.S. sales of Inlyta rose significantly in the second half of 2020, gaining from FDA approvals in 2019 for the combination of Inlyta plus Pfizer’s Bavencio and Inlyta plus Merck’s (MRK - Free Report) Keytruda in first-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma patients. The trend is expected to have continued in the first quarter.

Pfizer’s stock has declined 6.4% this year so far compared with a decrease of 1.8% for the industry

 

 

In non-oncology area, sales of drugs like Xeljanz and alliance revenues from Bristol-Myers (BMY - Free Report) for Eliquis are likely to have provided top-line support. Regarding Xeljanz, continued growth in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) revenues and contributions from launches in new indications, psoriatic arthritis and ulcerative colitis (UC) are likely to have driven sales. However, higher rebating from new commercial contracts is likely to have partially offset the U.S. sales increase.

In July 2019, Xeljanz’s prescribing information in the United States was updated by the FDA to include two additional boxed warnings for the RA indication as well as some label changes for the UC indication, following review of a post-marketing study. Regarding this, Pfizer mentioned on the fourth-quarter call that the label changes did not impact the drug’s prescription trends significantly in the quarter, both for the RA and UC indications. An update on the impact of the label changes on first-quarter sales of Xeljanz is expected on the conference call.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales of Ibrance (worldwide) and alliance revenues from Eliquis is $1.32 billion and $1.22 billion, respectively. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Inlyta and Xeljanz’s sales is pegged at $175 million and $515 million, respectively.

In addition, new brands such as Vyndaqel/Vyndamax, Braftovi, Mektovi and new oncology biosimilars (Trazimera, Zirabev and Ruxience) are likely to have brought additional sales.

However, sales of some key products like of Prevnar 13/Prevenar 13 vaccine in the United States and Enbrel in international markets declined in the past few quarters. While sales of Prevnar 13/Prevenar suffered as a result of continued decline in revenues for the adult indication in the United States, Enbrel revenues in key European markets declined due to continued biosimilar competition. It remains to be seen if sales of these drugs have improved this time around. Pfizer has exclusive rights to Amgen’s (AMGN - Free Report) blockbuster RA drug, Enbrel, outside the United States and Canada.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales of Enbrel and Prevnar is $352 million and $1.47 billion, respectively.

Overall, in the fourth quarter, higher sales of the Biopharma segment are likely to have made up for lower sales in the Upjohn group. (Read more: What’s in the Cards for Pfizer This Earnings Season?)

Pfizer has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!                  

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. 

Click here for the 6 trades >>

Published in