Oh, it's the raising the price 500% part? Ahhh...sure, that makes more sense!
Didn't know what "flummoxed" meant?
Pfizer Targets Covid Vaccine Price of at Least $110 a Dose
The drugmaker laid out a potential price as it prepares to sell the shot commercially, perhaps early next year
Pfizer said the earliest there could be a commercial rollout would be early next year.
By Jared S. Hopkins, WSJ
Oct. 20, 2022 6:50 pm ET
Pfizer Inc. gave some details about its plans to sell the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with BioNTech SE on the commercial market in the U.S., saying it expects to price the shot at $110 to $130 per dose for adults.
The drugmaker is still negotiating with health insurers, but anticipates the discussions will lead to a list price in the range, Angela Lukin, a Pfizer official, said Thursday.
She said the company planned to distribute the vaccine through the middlemen wholesalers that it typically uses for its products, and would also offer rebates off the list price like it usually does. The company also said it planned to package the vaccine in a single-dose vial, rather than the multi-dose vials used during the pandemic.
The details are the latest sign that preparations are under way for a transition to the typical commercial sales from U.S. government purchases of the vaccine.
“As we head down this road, the good news is we have a lot of experience in this space,” said Ms. Lukin, Pfizer’s U.S. president.
Pfizer said the earliest there could be a commercial rollout would be early next year, though that will depend on factors such as when its contracts with the federal government expire and when the existing U.S. supply runs out.
The company expects that most people won’t have to pay anything out of pocket for the vaccine after commercial sales begin, Ms. Lukin said. Many health insurance plans cover the full cost of an annual flu shot, for instance, and people in the U.S. have gotten Covid-19 vaccines at no cost to date during the pandemic.
Ms. Lukin said the commercial list price would take into account the value provided by the vaccine, along with manufacturing costs, including the added expense of single-dose vials.
The new bivalent vaccine might be the first step in developing annual Covid shots, which could follow a similar process to the one used to update flu vaccines every year. Here’s what that process looks like, and why applying it to Covid could be challenging. Illustration: Ryan Trefes
The price of vaccines for adults varies widely, with some costing more than $200 while others are less than $100, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. government paid $19.50 a dose for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine under the first contract for 100 million doses. Under the most recent supply deal, announced over the summer, the cost per dose was roughly $30.50.
Federal government officials have long said that companies would eventually sell Covid-19 products commercially, like they sell other vaccines, drugs and tests, though the timing of the transition wasn’t known.
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