Pfizer has reported a financial loss after taking a hit from one-time clinical trial failures, although the pharmaceutical giant said revenue growth from key medicines, including Eliquis, Padcev and Vyndaqel, helped cushion the impact.
Photo: MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP
Pfizer reported a second-quarter loss Tuesday following writedowns due to unfavourable clinical results despite scoring higher overall sales.
The drugmaker’s loss of $248 million compared with profits of $2.9 billion in the year-ago period, while revenues rose three percent to $15.0 billion.
Pfizer pointed to revenue growth from blood thinner Eliquis, cancer treatment Padcev and the heart drug Vyndaqel.
But results were dented by $3.8 billion in impairments, with Pfizer citing an unfavourable clinical trial for a lung cancer treatment and a determination not to return Oxbryta to the United States.
Pfizer in September 2024 withdrew Oxbryta from the US market because the medication showed higher rates of severe pain in the sickle cell patient population, according to a notice on the US Food and Drug Administration website.
“After engaging with the FDA in July 2026 to discuss their assessment of data and analyses, … it was determined there was no viable pathway to return Oxbryta to the market in the US,” Pfizer said.
The company also boosted research and development spending by 13 percent compared with the 2025 quarter.
Pfizer confirmed its full-year profit forecast, but raised its 2026 revenue guidance range by $500 million to between $60.5 billion and $62.6 billion.
Chief Executive Albert Bourla pointed to a lift from acquisitions of other pharmaceutical companies, saying the company’s obesity program has “meaningful momentum” and that oncology “remains a source of strength.”
Following the 2023 acquisition of oncology specialist Seagen, Pfizer scored a 21 percent jump in legacy Seagen products in the United States.
Shares of Pfizer rose 0.2 percent in pre-market trading.
