Pfizer Stock: With Covid Booster Future Uncertain, Pfizer Digs Into A New Virus

Pfizer (PFE) will buy privately held RSV treatment-maker ReViral for up to $525 million, the company said early Thursday. Pfizer stock rose.

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The deal bolsters Pfizer’s pipeline targeting respiratory syncytial virus, a pathogen that leads to lower respiratory tract infections in high-risk populations, particularly infants and the elderly. A number of companies are in the queue with RSV vaccines, including Pfizer and Moderna (MRNA).

But ReViral is, instead, working on treatments for the infection. In most people, RSV can cause cold-like symptoms. But it can be deadly in vulnerable people. Pfizer estimates the virus leads to 160,000 deaths globally each year.

“We’re continuing to grow our pipeline — through our own research-and-development efforts, such as our investigational RSV vaccine programs, as well as strategic investments in companies like ReViral — with a focus on end-to-end capabilities to help protect patients from severe illness, hospitalization and death,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said in a written statement.

On today’s stock market, Pfizer stock advanced 4.3% to 55.16.

Pfizer Stock: Digging Into RSV

Pfizer believes ReViral’s programs could ultimately generate $1.5 billion in sales. Among those, the company is studying a drug called sisunatovir. ReViral found sisunatovir to be safe in infants. It also showed enough pharmacological promise to begin another midstage study.

“This acquisition represents a validation of the deep antiviral experience of the ReViral team and our unwavering commitment to deliver therapies for patients in need,” ReViral CEO Alex Sapir said in a written statement.

Pfizer’s $525 million bill includes upfront and development milestones.

Pfizer stock is consolidating with a buy point at 61.81, according to MarketSmith.com.

The news comes a day after an FDA committee discussed Covid boosters at length and after a study out of Israel suggested a fourth dose of a messenger RNA vaccine against Covid could prove futile in the long run. Pfizer is now looking for its next leg of growth.

Pfizer stock analysts currently call for more than $107 billion in 2022 sales. Then, according to FactSet, they expect roughly $82 billion in sales in 2023 before falling to below $70 billion in subsequent years.

Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.

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