The weight loss drug market is vast, and Pfizer still wants to "get on board" despite setbacks.

Zhitong App has learned that Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, stated on Monday that despite abandoning a highly anticipated weight-loss drug at the end of last year due to significant side effects, the company will still actively try to enter the lucrative weight-loss market. Bourla said, "Pfizer's position is that we believe obesity is an area where we have the ability to participate and succeed. Therefore, we will have to take action."

Analysts predict that the entire weight-loss drug market will reach $100 billion by 2030. Leading market players, such as Eli Lilly's Zepbound and Mounjaro, as well as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, have already generated billions of dollars in revenue. These drugs belong to the GLP-1 class of drugs, originally developed for type 2 diabetes, including Novo Nordisk's Ozempic, which has been used for weight loss.

Bourla stated that Pfizer is unlikely to acquire late-stage obesity treatment drugs, as the company's current focus is on cost reduction and debt reduction after its $43 billion acquisition of cancer company Seagen. However, he mentioned that Pfizer is actively seeking potential licensing deals or early-stage weight-loss drugs.

In recent months, Pfizer has been punished by investors due to a series of negative news, including lower-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment drugs, which have caused its stock price to hit a 10-year low and forced the New York-based pharmaceutical company to cut costs by $4 billion. In early December, Pfizer announced that it would not advance its twice-daily oral weight-loss drug, danuglipron, to late-stage research. A few weeks later, the company warned that its sales in 2024 would be $5 billion lower than Wall Street's expectations, mainly due to the shortfall in its COVID-19 franchise.

Pfizer's respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, Abrysvo, launched last year, has also been disappointing. Bourla said it only holds about 35% of the market share in the United States, far behind competitor GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine. Bourla said, "For me, this is very unacceptable and does not reflect the better contracts and better business execution that GlaxoSmithKline can do."

He mentioned that most RSV vaccines are administered in pharmacies, where GlaxoSmithKline dominates. For most of the season, GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine is the only vaccine supplied by CVS Health, the largest chain pharmacy in the United States and the dominant player in the retail vaccine market.

Bourla expressed dissatisfaction with Pfizer's commercial performance in 2023. Former Chief Business Officer Angela Hwang resigned last month, and the company has divided its commercial operations into two divisions, one focusing on the United States and the other on the rest of the world. Bourla said, "Overall, Pfizer has not demonstrated the advantages of being a commercial machine. We used to be a well-functioning machine that was very reliable when launching products." We have taken some measures to rectify this.