Pfizer executive on pharma’s post-pandemic future

Last week, the World Health Organization announced that Covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking an end - albeit a symbolic one - to the pandemic.

Pfizer, maker of one of the most-used Covid-19 jabs and an antiviral pill, hit a record-breaking $100 billion in revenues in 2022, spurred by earnings from those treatments.

As the pandemic wanes and demand for treatments drops off, the New York-headquartered pharmaceuticals company is in a "transition year", chief executive Albert Bourla said on a first-quarter earnings call.

Patrick van der Loo, a regional president who oversees the Middle East, Russia and Africa, talks to host Kelsey Warner this week about what a transition means for the world's biggest pharmaceutical company by revenue, how the pandemic changed drug development cycles and what the Gulf's potential is for taking a piece of the booming life sciences industry.

In this episode:

Pfizer's transition post-pandemic and its role now (0m 20s)
The velocity of drug discovery and the impact of the pandemic (6m 52s)
The UAE's role in the pharmaceutical industry (9m 14s)
Public health challenges and the ambitions in the region (17m 37s)   Read more on our website:

• Pfizer drops sales guidance after posting 47% jump in Q4 profits
• Stem cell therapies promise breakthrough in Dubai life sciences
• Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and G42 launch tech-focused healthcare company M42

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