How convenient.
After CDC panels recommend adding COVID shots to children and adolescents’ annual immunization schedule, Pfizer plans to increase the price of their mRNA COVID jab by 400%.
Pfizer announced during an investor call that the company is considering charging between $110 and $130 per dosage for the private market for the COVID shot Comirnaty as government contracts come to an end.
The call was conducted on Thursday to review data on RSV and provide a commercial update on the company’s COVID vaccine. The investor call was uploaded on Thursday at 3:31 PM, hours after CDC panels voted to add the COVID vaccine to the annual immunization schedule for children and adolescents.
The new pricing will go into effect in 2023, most likely during the first quarter.
Fierce Pharma reported:
Since vaccines became available in the U.S., the government has footed the bill and provided them for free. In the last supply contract the U.S. signed with Pfizer and BioNTech in June of this year, the companies charged $30.48 per dose, which was an increase from a $24 price in July of 2021 and $19.50 per dose in July of 2020.
“Based on our current understanding, when we enter a traditional commercial model, anyone with commercial or government insurance who is eligible to be vaccinated should be able to access the vaccine without any out-of-pocket payments,” Angela Lukin, Pfizer’s U.S. president of global primary care, said during the call.
One of the reasons for the increase, Pfizer said, is that it will provide vaccines in a single-dose vial as opposed to the current multi-dose vials. This change is because of “consumer preference,” Lukin said.
The price is not out of line with other vaccines that are provided to adults. It is more than what CVS, for example, charges for a flu shot ($50 or $95), but is less than many other vaccines including Pneumovax 23 ($141), hepatitis ($145), meningitis ($179), shingles ($205) and HPV ($261).
Moderna did not respond immediately to a question about how much it plans to charge for its COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax.
In justifying the price, Pfizer mentioned its “50/50 gross profit split” with BioNTech and the reinvestment cost as the company continues to beef up manufacturing and develop the vaccine as the virus evolves.