15.50 euros per unit so far.
But tomorrow ?
At what price, for example, has the European Union just placed a firm order for 900 million doses from Pfizer, as well as an option on an additional 900 million, by 2023?
Mystery.
The American laboratory refuses to comment.
“Around 20 euros, no doubt,” a source in Brussels tells us.
“The negotiations that have been conducted are top secret.
"
A representative of the Commission in Paris even mentions a "Chinese wall" erected around the negotiations.
The leaks on Twitter last December concerning the unit price of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine left traces.
"The price increase in future contracts is a reality," warned Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister in charge of Industry, at the end of April.
About twenty euros per dose, it would then be more than the current price set by the United States (around 16.30 euros), but still lower than that paid by Israel (22.70 euros).
According to corroborating sources, the American laboratory is currently playing the higher bid.
"To counter it, it will be necessary to make play the competition", entrusts one to Bercy.
A margin of 25 to 30% on each dose
Pfizer operates a system at three different levels.
The "high price" is reserved for the most economically developed countries: Europe, the United States, Japan or even Canada.
It is among the highest on the market with that of Moderna (marketed at 14.80 euros).
As a reminder, those of AstraZeneca and Janssen are displayed respectively at 2 and 7 euros per dose, or practically at cost price.
"In middle-income countries, on the other hand, we sell it at half that price," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla explained on April 16 in an interview given to several European media.
And in low-income countries, like Africa for example, we distribute it at cost.
"
Read also Pfizer: how the inventor of Viagra became the world's leading producer of the Covid vaccine
To fully understand what is at stake, it should be borne in mind that the “vaccines” activity within the health sector usually only accounts for 3 to 5% of the amount of drug sales. Since the start of the pandemic, this share has exploded. An example ? In 2019, Moderna garnered 60 million euros in turnover. Two years later, after the patent for its vaccine was filed, it is a tumble: more than 15 billion euros over the whole of 2021, according to the latest estimates from the American start-up.
Pfizer is obviously not left out. Thanks to its association with BioNTech, the American group expects an increase in turnover of nearly 12 billion euros this year, and 3.3 billion euros in profits. How? 'Or' What ? From this first year of the pandemic, Pfizer has planned a margin of 25 to 30% on each dose. With the three billion doses that it plans to sell next year, the laboratory expects to rake in a nice jackpot. Not surprisingly, Albert Bourla publicly expressed his disapproval after US President Joe Biden said he was in favor of lifting the patents.
