Pfizer Is Reeling After Getting Some Really Bad News, $1.4 Billion Just Went Down The Toilet
Pfizer has just been notified that they are more than likely going to have to eat $1.4 billion dollars.
Citing an oversupply and financial hardships because of the Ukraine crisis Poland informed Pfizer that they are pulling out of the contract for their COVID mRNA vaccine.
The deal is actually between the European Commission and vaccine manufacturers but Poland was the biggest consumer in the deal.
Healthworld reported:
“At the end of last week, we used the force majeure clause and informed both the European Commission and the main vaccine producer that we are refusing to take these vaccines at the moment and we are also refusing to pay,” Polish health minister Adam Niedzielski told private broadcaster TVN24.
Officials in Poland told the Commission that the immense influx of Ukrainian refugees has stretched the country’s finances and they are trying to cut costs where they can. Additionally, the country has an oversupply of doses and at this time doesn’t need anymore. A report from Politico discovered that the country tried to negotiate with Pfizer but the pharmaceutical company would not budge.
From Politico:
Niedzielski explained that the improving pandemic situation meant that there was less need for vaccines. The Ukrainian refugee crisis, meanwhile, had stretched the public finances. He added that the government had tried to reach a compromise, asking for deliveries to be staggered over the course of 10 years, but “we encountered a complete lack of flexibility on the part of the producers.”
“It’s a major financial burden,” Niedzielski lamented about their deal with Pfizer. “Poland is facing serious financial strains related to the influx of refugees.”
Instead of understanding that Poland is doing the world an international favor by taking in Ukrainian refugees, Pfizer put their shareholders first.
This is more than likely headed to court but there is a domino effect taking place, Moderna has similar problems after African officials reported they have what they need.
From Yahoo Finance:
For a while there was a supply constraint to a world where there’s too many vaccines today. I don’t if you saw yesterday, the Africa CDC announced that they were taking no more donations in Q1 or Q2 this year, maybe in Q3 and Q4, because we have too many vaccines.
We had two years to get prepared for the last mile delivery, getting enough health care workers trained, fridges, and so on so vaccine could be available in low-income countries when they would be available. And now we are seeing this big oversupply of vaccines, including, for example, in the case of Moderna. But then it’s the same for other companies.
The world is moving on and Pfizer is realizing they are getting left behind.