Pfizer has been multiplying projects since post-covid. CARLO ALLEGRI / REUTERS
The American laboratory, the big winner of the pandemic, has just set its sights on Seagen, an American biotech specializing in cancer.
Pfizer will therefore have taken its time to use the Covid windfall. The American laboratory, the big winner of the pandemic, has just set its sights on Seagen, an American biotech specializing in cancer. It spends 43 billion dollars to buy it, under the nose of its rival MSD, which also coveted it last year. Analysts had been watching for Pfizer’s next offensive for several months. If the laboratory has increased its purchases in recent months (Global Blood Therapeutics, Biohaven, Arena Pharmaceuticals, etc.), it had not made a major acquisition for several years. However, the American giant had a comfortable war chest after making $31.3 billion in profits last year (for $100 billion in sales) and $21.9 billion in 2021 thanks to sales of his vaccine and his anti-Covid tablet (Paxlovid).
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For Pfizer, which is preparing to see its Covid revenues dry up over the next few years, the challenge is to prepare for the future. The American laboratory, which is about to lose 17 billion dollars in revenue by 2030 due to the expiration of patents for several flagship drugs, must also ensure growth drivers. To achieve this, its CEO, Albert Bourla, is betting in particular on oncology with 24 approved drugs in its portfolio. With Seagen, pioneer of a promising new technology (conjugated antibodies), he gets his hands on four additional treatments, already on the market, which generated 2 billion dollars in sales last year. The acquisition of biotech should bring it more than 10 billion in revenue by 2030. Pfizer expects 15 billion from its other buyouts.
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