Pfizer has emerged as a leading victor in the pandemic fight. Its vaccine has become an indispensable tool against COVID-19. The first to reach Western markets in December 2020, Pfizer swiftly ascended to the top spot in COVID-19 vaccine sales within a year, significantly outperforming rivals like Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.
In the United States, its market share is nearly 60%, and in Europe, it reaches a remarkable 74%. This is a triumph for the New York-based pharmaceutical company: 2021 sales of Comirnaty, its COVID-19 vaccine, generated a staggering $36 billion (approximately €31.8 billion). This is unprecedented for a pharmaceutical product with such a brief market presence. Moreover, 2022 promises continued success, with orders surpassing $31 billion.
Innovative Technology
This remarkable commercial achievement, fueled by a global health crisis and a vaccine considered among the priciest, is remarkable. However, for CEO Albert Bourla, who assumed his role shortly before the pandemic, this achievement wasn’t accidental. “It wasn’t luck. It was intentional. It’s a result of countless crucial decisions made along the way,” the executive told an American business publication in February.
The collaboration is straightforward: BioNTech contributed its vaccine and mRNA expertise; Pfizer provided funding for clinical trials and leveraged its manufacturing capabilities.
This success story began in March 2020. As global borders shut and hospitals faced a surge of patients, Pfizer collaborated with BioNTech, a small German company that had been developing a vaccine for several weeks. BioNTech, specializing in cancer treatment research, had never previously launched a commercial product. Crucially, it employed messenger RNA technology—a novel approach that hadn’t yielded an approved pharmaceutical product before.
Yet, BioNTech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci believed in their method. They had already developed several promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates but needed financial support for clinical trials. This was a bold endeavor. And it could have ended there. Instead, it marked the beginning. Pfizer, already collaborating with BioNTech for several years on a flu vaccine, took a calculated risk.
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