Goldman Sachs hosted a meeting with Pfizer Inc's (NYSE:PFE) newly appointed Chief Scientific Officer Chris Boshoff (effective January 1, 2025).
The analyst maintains the Buy rating with a price target of $33.
When discussing core capabilities at Pfizer, the commentary highlighted a strategic shift toward prioritizing efforts. The focus will be on opportunities expected to deliver the highest economic returns while maintaining a balanced portfolio of high-risk and low-risk projects.
With an annual R&D budget of about $11-12 billion—representing roughly a high-teens percentage of revenue—the company plans to allocate resources to key areas such as Oncology and reaffirmed its commitment to programs targeting obesity, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases.
The analyst notes that Boshoff believes the anti-obesity medicine market is still in its early stages. He envisions a future in which the market is segmented based on factors like co-morbidities, different treatment mechanisms, delivery methods (Pfizer focuses on oral delivery), and combination therapies playing crucial roles.
Boshoff told the analyst that anti-obesity medicines are expected to become more integrated into primary care. He highlighted Pfizer's strong history with widely used medications like Lipitor and Eliquis, suggesting this experience aligns with their strategic goals.
Among Pfizer's three clinical-stage anti-obesity programs, Boshoff expressed confidence in one molecule potentially being among the first oral GLP-1/AOMs available in the U.S. market.
Goldman Sachs adds that Pfizer sees Comirnaty and Paxlovid as reliable long-term products. The company expects steady demand due to ongoing COVID-19 mutations. The company anticipates more stable vaccination rates and improved commercial stability overall.
In the third quarter, the U.S. drugmaker reported sales of $17.70 billion, up 31% year-over-year (up 32% operationally), beating the consensus of $14.95 billion.
The increase was primarily led by growth contributions from Paxlovid and several acquired products, key in-line products, and recent commercial launches.
Regarding its COVID-19 and influenza combination vaccine, Pfizer remains optimistic about its market potential and is testing new formulations to overcome challenges from earlier clinical data.
Pfizer recognizes setbacks in its immunology pipeline but remains committed and plans to focus on advancing select early-stage pipeline projects.
Price Action: PFE stock is down 0.77% at $25.62 at last check Tuesday.
