SK has signalled the end of the road for its Covid drug sales boom as the pharma giant eyes fresh sources of revenue to plug the hole left by the subsidence of the pandemic.
The London-based business posted a 15% drop in operating profits to £2.1 billion and an 8% fall in turnover in the first three months of 2023 to just under £7 billion. That was overwhelmingly to do with the decline in sales from Covid-related treatments, which plummeted from £1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to little more than £100 million in 2023, and which looks set to fall further still.
The firm said: “Based on known binding agreements with governments, GSK does not anticipate further significant COVID-19 pandemic-related sales or operating profit in 2023.” It added that full-year turnover growth would take a knock of 9%, and operating profit growth would dip up to 6%, as a result.
Excluding COVID-19 solutions, turnover increased by 10%, led by sales of its shingles vaccine Shingrix, meningitis vaccines and its treatments for HIV.
GSK shares fell 1.4% to 1479p.
The coronavirus pandemic has proved hugely lucrative to the pharma giants who were able to quickly bring life-saving treatments and vaccines to market. In 2021, five of the world’s biggest drugmakers made a combined £62 billion from coronavirus-related products, according to an Evening Standard analysis.
But after the pandemic died down, some have struggled to convince investors they have a strong enough drugs development pipeline to replace the heady sums they generated in 2021.
Shares in GSK have fallen 16% over the past year, while Pfizer shares are down 20% and BioNTech shares have sunk 23%. Astrazeneca, which promised to sell its pioneering Covid vaccine at cost, has not suffered the same fate, with its shares up 17% over the same period.
