💰 The Pfizer earnings call: profits driven by surges 🦠
💰 The Pfizer earnings call: profits driven by surges 🦠
Another case of privatized profits & socialized losses with too many coincidences.
We’re told the U.S. government plans to get out of the business of pandemic response and hand it over to privatization.1 Meanwhile the Department of Health and Human Services prepared a report on the long-term impact of the pandemic2, while Long Covid survivors protest in frustration.3
At the 2022 1st quarter Pfizer Inc earnings call4, Angela Hwang said with the removal of mask mandates and the emergency period, “That means that people are going to get out there. We know with all of that, infections are going to increase, and that's the role that PAXLOVID can play.” Hwang also said they’re “intently focused” on working with governments, and that there’s “a lot of confidence that there is a demand for PAXLOVID” and that they “anticipate further surges” of infections.
PFE.N - Q1 2022 Pfizer Inc Earnings Call MAY 03, 2022 / 2:00PM GMT
Angela Hwang - Pfizer Inc. - Group President of Biopharmaceuticals Group
So I think when you add all of this up, what we are seeing is the fact that there is demand for this product. We also see that the social -- the removal of the mask mandate, the social distancing requirements that have been removed. You also know that in the EU that just in the last week, they've removed the emergency period of the EUA. That means that people are going to get out there. We know with all of that, infections are going to increase, and that's the role that PAXLOVID can play. So we're intently focused on working with national governments, state governments, in helping them to educate, to take great lessons learned from around all the different countries to help them to utilize PAXLOVID. And importantly, what we're also seeing is that it's not as -- we don't have any inventory on hand. Every dose that we produce is being shipped out and is being ordered. So I think all of these give us a lot of confidence that there is a demand for PAXLOVID. We know what we need to do to support the utilization of PAXLOVID, and we'll continue to drive that throughout the year as we anticipate further surges in COVID infections.
https://s28.q4cdn.com/781576035/files/doc_financials/2022/q1/PFE-USQ_Transcript_2022-05-03.pdf
And the demand has continued.5
And how do we know they were not doing more than anticipating?
We have been down a road before with a profit seeking pharmaceutical company seemingly rubbing hands together anticipating that which could have been prevented. It took until 20206 to find out the nitty gritty, but there were known violations with that company in 2003.7
What oversight is taking place now on influence and these pandemic decisions?
Anita Dunn, chief strategist of Biden’s presidential campaign and now Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, worked for Pfizer before joining the administration, and only finally disclosed it in August 2022.8 Pfizer certainly has had a close contact for their focus on government.
State Government Leadership Foundation was originally funded by Pfizer9 and did an ad campaign targeting liberals10 to persuade them against using masks. This was during the Omicron surge in early 2022 while we were reeling from devastating levels of infections, and schools around the nation were buckling from staffing shortages so bad that Michigan was allowing school bus drivers and cafeteria staffers to fill in as substitute teachers.11 It made no sense to push to suspend mitigations of infections — at least not in terms of academic cohesion or salubrious benefit to the students & staff.
The only way this doesn’t look hugely bad for Pfizer Inc. is if this company was actually actively pushing for mitigation strategies to stem transmission and prevent disease spread. But I see no evidence of that, and I’m only left to wonder at these coincidences.
References:
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Plans to Shift Bill for Covid Shots and Treatments to Insurers, Patients By Stephanie Armour Aug. 18, 2022
The Biden administration is planning for an end to its practice of paying for Covid-19 shots and treatments, shifting more control of pricing and coverage to the healthcare industry in ways that could generate sales for companies—and costs for consumers—for years to come.
USA: Services and Supports for Longer-Term Impacts of COVID-19 prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services August 2022
On April 5, 2022, President Biden issued the Memorandum on Addressing the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 outlining actions needed to support the American people in addressing the longer-term effects of COVID-19. The President charged the Secretary of Health and Human Services with coordinating a U.S. government-wide response to Long COVID.
Payday Report: Long Covid Survivor Protest at WH – NYT Reporters Move to Strike – Audiobook Workers on Strike By: Mike Elk SEPTEMBER 19, 2022
Today, long COVID survivors and ME/CFS survivors protested at the White House to demand the Biden administration take action and provide economic and medical support to people with long COVID. Additionally, the groups are calling for Biden to conduct a public campaign about the effects of long COVID and ME/CFS.
PFE.N - Q1 2022 Pfizer Inc Earnings Call MAY 03, 2022 / 2:00PM GMT
Angela Hwang - Pfizer Inc. - Group President of Biopharmaceuticals Group
So I think when you add all of this up, what we are seeing is the fact that there is demand for this product. We also see that the social -- the removal of the mask mandate, the social distancing requirements that have been removed. You also know that in the EU that just in the last week, they've removed the emergency period of the EUA. That means that people are going to get out there. We know with all of that, infections are going to increase, and that's the role that PAXLOVID can play. So we're intently focused on working with national governments, state governments, in helping them to educate, to take great lessons learned from around all the different countries to help them to utilize PAXLOVID. And importantly, what we're also seeing is that it's not as -- we don't have any inventory on hand. Every dose that we produce is being shipped out and is being ordered. So I think all of these give us a lot of confidence that there is a demand for PAXLOVID. We know what we need to do to support the utilization of PAXLOVID, and we'll continue to drive that throughout the year as we anticipate further surges in COVID infections.
https://s28.q4cdn.com/781576035/files/doc_financials/2022/q1/PFE-USQ_Transcript_2022-05-03.pdf
Twitter from @WhiteHouse: A graph showing the number of Americans benefiting from Paxlovid each month between March 2022 to July 2022
61,740 in March 205,288 in April 755,861 in May 921,210 in June 1,253,861 in July
House Committee on Oversight and Reform: Maloney and DeSaulnier Release Documents Following DOJ Settlement with Purdue and Sackler Family Oct 27, 2020 Press Release
In March 2011, after reviewing a report on prescription and stocking data for Purdue’s newly launched opioid, Butrans, Dr. Sackler wrote to Purdue’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing: “What else more we can do to energize the sales and grow at a faster rate?”
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES - RE: NDA 20-553 OxyContin (oxycodone HCl controlled-release) Tablets MACMIS ID# 11400 WARNING LETTER - 1/17/03
The combination in these advertisements of suggesting such a broad use of this drug to treat pain without disclosing the potential for abuse with the drug and the serious, potentially fatal risks associated with its use, is especially egregious and alarming in its potential impact on the public health
Politico: Anita Dunn finally discloses her corporate clients by Caitlin Oprysko 08/12/2022
In the past two years, Dunn advised AT&T, Lyft, Pfizer, Micron, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Salesforce and Reddit, the disclosures show. — Dunn also did consulting work for the renewables trade group American Clean Power Association, Melinda French Gates’ investment outlet Pivotal Ventures, the Center for American Progress’ advocacy arm and the Ford Foundation, in addition to political campaigns like President Joe Biden’s.
ProPublica: Big Corporations Put Up Seed Funding for Republican Dark Money Group by Justin Elliott
A records request by ProPublica to the IRS turned up a list of the original funders of the group: Exxon, Pfizer, Time Warner, and other corporations put up at least 85 percent of the $1.3 million the foundation raised in the first year and a half of its existence, starting in 2003.
https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit
Twitter from @theSGLF: State Government Leadership Foundation (SGLF) Feb 9, 2022
Our latest ad is making an impact and liberals are now agreeing with what conservatives have been saying all along: mask mandates do more harm than good.
Business Insider: Michigan is allowing school-bus drivers and cafeteria staffers to fill in as substitute teachers, becoming the latest state to expand teaching eligibility amid a nationwide labor shortage by Sarah Jackson Dec 29, 2021
The legislation allows individuals already working at schools — such as secretaries, paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, and bus drivers — to substitute teach through the end of this school year, even if they don't have relevant certifications.