Pfizer Inc Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Chris Shibutani - The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. - Analyst : Good morning and thank you very much. I wanted to ask questions about the pipeline, in particular with regard to obesity, where we appreciate the additional insights into what you have in the clinic. Albert, you previously said that you believe that Pfizer could be the number-two company on the market with an oral. That would imply that danuglipron is the lead asset there. However, you do have two additional assets that we find intriguing, a GLP-1 oral that is in 1Phase I that is once a day but would clearly be behind, and then now an oral GIPR antagonist, which I think is a source of debate. Can you frame what your strategy is, how important it is to be second to market versus perhaps having a differentiated approach with these two assets? Thank you.

Question: Srikripa Devarakonda - Truist Securities, Inc - Analyst : Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my question. I have actually a question on your recent data from ponsegromab program in cachexia. You reported positive filter data. And just broadly speaking, this program has been previously highlighted as well. For the registrational trials, would a trial that replicates your Phase 2 in a larger group of patients be sufficient? Or would you need to show outcomes like survival? And also, as we await details of the registration trials, can you help us understand how big of an opportunity you see for this drug? Thank you so much.

Question: Umer Raffat - Evercore ISI - Analyst : Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question. I feel like it's still very early in your engagement with some of your shareholders and the new shareholders, so perhaps it might be too premature to ask much further on that. So instead, maybe I'll focus on pipeline briefly. I know you mentioned, Mikael, that the oral GIPR antagonist adds better tolerability and more efficacy. It sounded like you were implying it's more incremental to what an oral GLP could do as a standalone. Could you just lay that into context? For example, in the four-week Phase 1 study you ran, did it hit 4% to 5% weight loss? And secondly, the more than 30-valent pneumococcal vaccine that you guys disclosed this morning, does it have more than one carrier protein? Thank you very much.

Question: Trung Huynh - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Hi, guys. Sorry, I was on mute there. Trung Huynh from UBS. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two. So thanks very much for the comments on the activist investor. You said you disagreed with the thoughts over capital deployment and then you cited significant shareholder returns for Seagen and BioNTech. What's the difference between what you're thinking and perhaps what the Street's thinking here on BD? And then how do you intend to restore that investor confidence back into the company so that bridge between your expectations and the Street can be aligned? And then just on your commitment to delevering, thanks for the comments on the prepared remarks here. Is there an appetite to delever even quicker and sell the hospital business and fully divest the Haleon stake earlier? You do have products going off with LOE soon. That could give you a little bit more flexibility on the balance sheet. So yes, just thoughts here. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 29, 2024 / 2:00PM, PFE.N - Q3 2024 Pfizer Inc Earnings Call

Question: Louise Chen - Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. Inc. - Analyst : Hi, thanks for taking my questions. So I just had two here. First one I wanted to ask you is how we should think about the big pushes and pulls for sales and EPS in 2025. And when you might give guidance, could it be as early as this year? And then second one, just on Seagen, just wondering how the integration is coming along and if you have any updates to some of the metrics that you gave like sales in 2030 and what have you for the Seagen deal. Thank you.

Question: Geoff Meacham - Citigroup Inc. - Analyst : Good morning, everyone. Thanks so much for the question. Just had a couple of quick ones. Mikael, another one on obesity, and I know you've added assets outside of danuglipron and I appreciate that it's early. I want to ask you, what does success look like on efficacy, just given the bar today? And then strategically, how does Pfizer view orals versus longer-acting injectables when you think about the investments Pfizer is making in this category? And then real quick, Albert, on the IRA, obviously, it seems here to stay. But when you think about the potential for a new administration, what would Pfizer like to see, obviously, beyond closing the gap between orals and biologics on exclusivity? Thank you.

Question: Terence Flynn - Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks so much. Appreciate the questions. Two for me. I guess first one is on the RSV opportunity. Just wondering what you see as the most likely outcome here for revaccination frequency and the potential impact on the longer-term market opportunity. And then the second question is more of a clarification on your CDK4 inhibitor. You got it to starting a first-line Phase III study early next year. Just wondering if you can share any more detail there on the design, if that would be a head-to-head versus IBRANCE, and if it would be in combo with [VEFDAG], or if that's a monotherapy-type design. Thank you.

Question: Evan Seigerman - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst : Hi there. thank you for taking my question. So I have one for Andrew in honor of what I believe is his first call on the other side. In your first four months or so, can you help us better understand your findings regarding the portfolio? And more broadly, how do you hope to shape and focus the wide variety of assets that Pfizer has to drive sustainable growth? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 29, 2024 / 2:00PM, PFE.N - Q3 2024 Pfizer Inc Earnings Call

Question: Courtney Breen - AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. - Analyst : Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for the time today. This is Courtney Breen from Bernstein. Perhaps building on the last question, looking at slide 28 in the presentation today, it suggested that in the last three months from the end of July to today that there has been no meaningful advancement of the pipeline, albeit there are a number of pipeline actions kind of suggested to be initiating soon. We're suggesting this is likely as a response to the reset and cost cutting that's going on. My first part to this question is how will you ensure that this isn't repeated in further quarters, and how are you balancing the need to kind of take stock and cut while ensuring that high potential opportunities are getting appropriately accelerated through the pipeline?

Question: Steve Scala - TD Cowen - Analyst : Thank you very much. Pfizer has previously stated it anticipated having visibility on long-term COVID product sales based on 2024 trends. Since we are now nearing the end of 2024, I'm wondering what that long-term number is. And then secondly, does Pfizer have the Phase 3 booster data for the RS vaccine in adults in-house? And if yes, does the data show a similar step down in booster immunogenicity as did the GSK vaccine? Thank you.

Question: Rajesh Kumar - HSBC Bank PLC - Analyst : Hi there. My apologies, I was on mute. So two questions, if I may. What is the impact of Part D and IRA on your business next year? Are there any numbers you're calling out which might help us with the modeling? That would be very helpful to understand if there are any impacts. And the second one is, I appreciate the color on the Seagen pipeline and how you're progressing and how the market underappreciates the size of the opportunity. The sell-side estimates clearly do not reflect your optimism. When is it that you'll feel a bit more confident or what do you need to see to increase your longer-term guidance on Seagen?

Question: Akash Tewari - Jefferies Financial Group Inc. - Analyst : Hey, thanks so much. So looking at some of your IP around 25-valent PREVNAR, it looks like you'll have to step up versus your previous 20-valent vaccine. But it does look like effective serotype coverage could lag meaningfully versus Merck and Vaxcyte approaches by 10% or more in older adults. How confident are you that this fourth-gen vaccine could stave off a preferential wreck from some of your peers down the line in adults? And then number two, can you talk about what special properties your once-daily modified-release danuglipron could have outside of improved half-life that investors might be underappreciating? I think those earlier comments stood out to us. Thank you.

Question: Vamil Divan - Guggenheim Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks for taking my question. So I have a few, but I'll keep it to two. So one, just on the guidance for the full year, you increased the total sales guidance by $1.5 billion. You increased the COVID products by $2 billion. So I guess you're lowering the non-COVID by about 500 million. I guess some of that looks bright up. But I'm wondering if there's anything else you might call out, where you're sort of trimming your expectations for the full year. And then second one, sort of tied to the OXBRYTA news from a few weeks ago, we noticed the GBT-601, Osivelotor. So that seems to be progressing still in your pipeline. I'm just curious if you're contemplating or have you made any changes to that approach? And the mechanism is obviously similar to OXBRYTA. So I'm just wondering if any of you have learned from the OXBRYTA situation. Should we think about carrying over to this one? Thank you.

Question: Dave Risinger - Leerink Partners - Analyst : Yes, thanks very much, and thanks for taking all these questions today. So my first question relates to cost cutting ahead. Obviously, the company is already engaged in significant SG&A and R&D efficiency initiatives, but I'm curious about whether management sees opportunities for further SG&A and R&D reductions. And then with respect to the over 30-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidate in pre-clinical development, given management's prior statements about its R&D initiatives, I'm assuming that that will be adjuvanted, and I just wanted to confirm that. Thank you.

Question: Chris Schott - JPMorgan Chase & Co. - Analyst : Great. Thanks very much. Just two quick ones here. Just first on margin structure and following up on the prior question, is a mid to high 30% adjusted kind of operating margin adjusted for COMIRNATY still fair for Pfizer, and what's a rough timeline to get there? And then my second question was just on the vepdegestrant max franchise. Obviously, very strong year this year. But switching out to next year, we've got the Part D redesign, we've got incremental competition. Is there still enough volume opportunity here to think about this as a franchise that's going to be generating healthy growth, or should we think about growth slowing significantly going forward? Thank you.

Question: Mohit Bansal - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Thank you very much for squeezing me in. And first of all, congrats on phenomenal hire in Andrew Baum. So maybe, taking a step back, can you comment something about ABRYSVO, if there was any stocking in this quarter? This particular market is a lot like stocking driven in fourth and first quarter, so how you are thinking about that? It looks like from the IQVIA trends, price implied, price jumped a lot. So if you could help us understand what is going on there and how should we think about this particular product in coming quarters. Thank you.

Question: Mohit Bansal - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : ABRYSVO.