Pfizer's Strong Late-Stage Pipeline Can Drive Long-Term Growth

Pfizer PFE has committed significant resources for the development of treatments in the fields of oncology, internal medicine, immunology, inflammation and vaccines.

Over the past decade, Pfizer has strengthened its R&D pipeline through M&A deals and clinical trial success.

Pfizer’s key vaccine candidates in late-stage studies are its C. difficile vaccine and an mRNA-based flu/COVID combination vaccine. Pfizer has also advanced its oncology clinical pipeline with several candidates entering late-stage development. Key oncology candidates in late-stage development include sasanlimab (BCG-naive high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer), vepdegestrant (ER+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer) and sigvotatug vedotin (metastatic non-small cell lung cancer). Pfizer is on track for a strong year of anticipated pipeline catalysts in 2025.

Year 2023 was a record year for Pfizer in terms of FDA approvals. It received nine new medicine/vaccine approvals in 2023. In 2024, PFE gained approvals for a couple of new products. Despite record new drug approvals in the past couple of years, Pfizer still boasts a strong and robust R&D pipeline with a significant number of late-stage products with some having the potential to be blockbuster drugs. While Pfizer’s new drugs and newly acquired products from Seagen and other acquisitions hold the key to its growth in the 2025-2030 period, its pipeline candidates have the potential to drive long-term growth.

Pfizer has, however, faced its share of pipeline setbacks. Among more recent setbacks, in April 2025, Pfizer announced that it is discontinuing the development of its GLP-1R agonist, danuglipron, which was developed as a weight loss pill.

Competition in the Oncology Space

Other large players in the oncology space are AstraZeneca AZN, Merck MRK and Bristol-Myers BMY.

For AstraZeneca, oncology sales now comprise around 41% of total revenues. Sales in its oncology segment rose 13% in the first quarter of 2025. AstraZeneca’s strong oncology performance was driven by medicines such as Tagrisso, Lynparza, Imfinzi, Calquence and Enhertu (in partnership with Daiichi Sankyo).

Merck’s key oncology medicines are PD-LI inhibitor, Keytruda and PARP inhibitor, Lynparza, which it markets in partnership with AstraZeneca. Keytruda, approved for several types of cancer, alone accounts for around 50% of Merck’s pharmaceutical sales.

Bristol-Myers’ key cancer drug is PD-LI inhibitor, Opdivo, which accounts for around 20% of its total revenues.

PFE’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Pfizer’s stock has declined 5.4% so far this year compared with a decrease of 1.3% for the industry. 

From a valuation standpoint, Pfizer appears attractive relative to the industry and is trading below its 5-year mean. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 7.88 forward earnings, lower than 14.76 for the industry and the stock’s 5-year mean of 10.88.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings has risen from $2.99 per share to $3.06 per share, while that for 2026 has gone up from $3.02 to $3.09 per share over the past 60 days. 

Pfizer has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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