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Pfizer on Tuesday reported second-quarter adjusted earnings that topped Wall Street’s expectations, but posted revenue that fell short of estimates as Covid product sales plunged.

Pfizer reported second-quarter sales of $12.73 billion, down 54% over the same period a year ago.

Excluding sales of the company’s Covid vaccine and Covid antiviral pill Paxlovid, revenue grew 5% operationally. Together, the products raked in $1.6 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Here’s how Pfizer results compared with Wall Street expectations, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

• Earnings per share: 67 cents per share adjusted, vs. 57 cents per share expected
• Revenue: $12.73 billion, vs. $13.27 billion expected

Pfizer booked a net income of $2.33 billion, or 41 cents per share. That fell from $9.91 billion, or $1.73 per share, during the same period a year ago. 

Excluding certain items, the company’s earnings per share were 67 cents per share for the quarter. 

Looking ahead, the New York-based company narrowed its 2023 sales forecast to $67 billion to $70 billion, from a previous forecast of $67 billion to $71 billion. 

Pfizer reiterated its full-year adjusted earnings outlook of $3.25 to $3.45 per share.

Shares of Pfizer have fallen nearly 30% this year, putting the company’s market value at roughly $203 billion.

Pfizer is in a transition period as it navigates its post-pandemic boom.

The company and rival drugmakers like Moderna have seen a steep drop off in Covid-relates sales this year as the world emerges from the pandemic and relies less on blockbuster vaccines and treatments that help protect against the virus.

That decline, which has weighed on Pfizer’s sales during the past two quarters, shows no signs of abating.

But Pfizer is pinning its hopes on mergers and acquisitions and a record pipeline to help the company pivot to new areas of growth. 

Investors are eager for executives to provide updates on Pfizer’s several near-term drug launches, which CEO Albert Bourla said in May will help grow non-Covid revenues “at a faster rate” during the second half of the year.

That includes Pfizer’s vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus and its updated Covid shot – both of which are slated to roll out during the third quarter.

Executives are also likely to be asked about the company’s $43 billion acquisition of cancer therapy maker Seagen – a deal Pfizer believes could contribute more than $10 billion in risk-adjusted sales by 2030. 

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission asked Pfizer and Seagen for more information on their proposed merger during the second quarter. The move came as the agency cracks down on similar deals in the pharmaceutical industry. 

Executives will also likely to address the tornado that hit Pfizer’s major plant in North Carolina after the company told hospitals last month that more than 30 drugs may see new supply disruptions due to the damage.

Pfizer will hold a conference call at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday. 

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The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law 33 years ago to protect people with disabilities from discrimination.

But disabled people still face major hurdles when it comes to building wealth.

To help make it easier for disabled individuals with lower incomes to save, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who serves as chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, is introducing a new proposal, called the ABLE MATCH Act. The legislation would create a federal dollar-for-dollar match of up to $2,000 for new and existing ABLE accounts for individuals who earn $28,000 or less per year.

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ABLE accounts, which were established with federal legislation in 2014, allow qualifying individuals to set money aside for disability-related expenses without losing eligibility for federal programs such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income. The tax-advantaged accounts allow for tax-free withdrawals for qualifying expenses, while investment gains may grow on a tax-deferred basis.

The ABLE program has been a “lifeline for thousands of people with disabilities across the nation,” Casey said in a statement.

“However, there are still too many people whose lives would be made easier by the program, but don’t have sufficient funds to open an account,” Casey added.

Proposal would add a federal match

The ABLE MATCH Act would create a federal dollar-for-dollar match of up to $2,000 for individuals who make $28,000 or less, which would taper off for each dollar earned over that threshold.

That threshold would be adjusted for inflation and for heads of household and married couples.

The bill’s goal is to help boost enrollment in ABLE accounts for people with lower incomes who have disabilities.

The introduction of the proposal is a “really exciting development,” said Thomas Foley, executive director at the National Disability Institute.

There are still too many people whose lives would be made easier by the program, but don’t have sufficient funds to open an account.

Sen. Bob Casey

Democratic senator from Pennsylvania

“This is providing an incentive to a group of people who haven’t been incentivized, and in fact have been dis-incentivized to save for decades,” Foley said.

People with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty compared with people without disabilities, Foley said.

The National Disability Institute’s research has found that people with disabilities need to spend about $28,000 more per year to live lifestyles equivalent to those of people without disabilities, he said.

Those extra costs come from needs such as accessible transportation, living closer to work, or the maintenance of a service dog, for example.

Disabled individuals, particularly those who are younger, may find it difficult to save in an ABLE account due to a lack of disposable income, Foley said.

New legislation passed last year raised the age limit from 26 to 46 for the onset of a disability in order to participate in an ABLE account starting in 2026.

With that change, as many as 14 million people may be eligible to participate in ABLE accounts, Foley said.

Warning labels are intended to inform consumers of potential risks when using a product, but they are too widespread to be of any use.

“Warning labels were actually pretty rare up until the 1960s,” said W. Kip Viscusi, a distinguished professor of law, economics, and management at Vanderbilt University. “From the mid-1960s, cigarettes were labeled with a warning. Since then, other products have followed suit and tried to emulate the cigarette experience.”

Health warnings generally come in two forms: those warning the consumer not to purchase the product, such as: For example, a label on a packet of cigarettes that says “This product may cause oral cancer” and those warning of the risks of using a product improperly, perhaps saying “To prevent this piece of furniture from tipping over, it must be permanently attached to the wall.”

One of the problems that researchers have pointed out is that people are desensitized to warning labels because they seem to be everywhere.

“One of my main complaints about warnings is that they have become ubiquitous,” Viscusi said. “There’s a tendency to say things are risky [and] Put a warning on it, and that tends to weaken the impact of the other warnings that are out there. So when everything is labeled as dangerous in the supermarket, you don’t know what to buy.”

Viscusi has developed two criteria for effective health warnings: 1) they must provide consumers with new information and 2) the consumer must believe the information is credible.

“If companies make statements against their financial interests, that would usually be credible,” Viscusi said.

There has been opposition to placing health warnings on certain products. In December 2022, a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cannot require tobacco companies to place graphic health warnings on cigarettes.

When it comes to ensuring people use products safely, consumer advocates believe warning labels should be the last resort.

“Generally, warnings are in and of themselves.” [are] just not effective,” said Oriene Shin, policy adviser at Consumer Reports. “They really need to be coupled with safe design.”

This is where the security hierarchy of product design comes into play. This is a multi-stage process that aims to eliminate risks for the consumer and, if this is not possible, to minimize them through protective measures.

An example of a protective measure, according to Shin, would be that a potentially dangerous product like a lawn mower should only be started when the user pulls a lever and presses a button, and not just one of those procedures.

The final level of the security hierarchy is a warning sign.

“I’ve probably seen hundreds of warnings in the last week and we probably don’t remember any of them,” Shin said. “And that’s the problem with just relying on warning labels. [They’re] the icing on the cake and not the end of it all.”

watch the video Above you can read more about why warning signs are not working and what we can do about it.