Top-selling COVID-19 drug Paxlovid could see sales decrease from 2023

Although many pharmaceutical companies have launched therapeutic drugs for COVID-19, Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets) takes the top spot as market leader. The drug has expected peak sales of $30.7 billion in 2022 and total generated sales of $81 billion between 2021 and 2028, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.

Paxlovid is an oral small molecule antiviral combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, that halts viral replication preventing the disease from becoming severe and resulting in hospitalization. Paxlovid sales are followed by Regeneron’s (Nasdaq: REGN) Regen-Cov (casirivimab and imdevimab), Gilead Sciences’ (Nasdaq: GILD) Veklury (remdesivir) and Merck & Co’s (NYSE: MRK) Lagevrio (molnupiravir).

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘ Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Analyst Consensus Sales Analysis and Forecast, H1 2022’, reveals that the peak in sales is likely due to the drug receiving Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) across geographies including the USA Japan, China, and South Korea, and being approved in geographies including the UK, the European Union, Canada, and New Zealand.