Covid-19 has been branded a "multibillion-dollar" franchise by a senior figure at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, according to a report. Mail Online says chief financial officer David Denton also told investors he expects profits at the firm to keep on climbing.
He is reported to have made the comments during an earnings call last week when he is also alleged to have said Pfizer's antiviral would remain "relevant for many years to come". Explaining that he anticipates Covid will be "somewhat like a flu... but more deadly", he added that therapeutics will continue to play a crucial part in containing the virus.
Pfizer has earned around $80 billion in annual revenue from the sale of its jabs and antiviral drug Paxlovid. But it revealed in October that the price of its vaccine will be hiked by three times its current cost to a maximum of $130 per dose next year.
