Earlier this week, Tazeen Ahmad, an analyst with BofA Securities Inc., estimated that BioNTech’s vaccine program is worth about $11.7 billion. That’s based on an estimated $36 net price per dose in the U.S., $30 per dose in the European Union and $12 per dose in the rest of the world.
Pricing a Covid-19 vaccine is far different than other products because of the potential demand and value, Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in June at a conference.
“If we try to calculate the value of the vaccine for the pricing like any other vaccine,” through common market principles, Bourla said, “it would be unethical.”
Supply Concerns
The U.S. deals have stoked concerns that other countries, especially poorer regions of the world, will be left behind. Other rich countries, such as the U.K. and those in Europe, have also secured deals.
On Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced a plan to supply 30 million doses of one of their vaccine candidates to the U.K. this year and next, though they did not disclose what they stood to gain from the agreement. Pfizer’s Beatty said on Wednesday that the companies have also engaged the Covax program, a group established by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and World Health Organization to launch supply discussions.
The U.S. typically pays “the high water-mark price” when it comes to pharmaceuticals, according to Loncar. It’s likely that the U.K and other countries are able to secure the still-experimental vaccine for lesser sums, he said.
The U.S. in May pledged as much as $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca to help make Oxford’s Covid vaccine, and the government has backed projects underway at Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and other companies.
The Pfizer vaccine would be free to the American people, according to the government. The U.S moves are part of a larger initiative to secure coronavirus vaccines for the U.S., officially dubbed Operation Warp Speed.
“Expanding Operation Warp Speed’s diverse portfolio by adding a vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech increases the odds that we will have a safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in the statement.
--With assistance from Tim Loh.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.