GSK, Pfizer RSV vaccine sales fall in US as millions fewer people line up

New York (Reuters): U.S. sales of RSV vaccines from GSK (GSK.L), opens new tab and Pfizer (PFE.N), opens new tab are down significantly after regulators narrowed the targeted age group and said it was a once-in-a-lifetime shot for now, excluding millions of people who got one last year.

Some independent pharmacists said demand during the autumn vaccination season for respiratory syncytial virus shots has fallen as much as two-thirds from a year ago. So far, volumes reported by healthcare data company IQVIA (IQV.N), opens new tab and published in several Wall Street analyst notes roughly match that mark.

The shots are important for both Pfizer and GSK as they look to build new franchises before top-selling drugs face generic competition later this decade.

Pfizer is also contending with activist investor Starboard Value and weakening demand for its COVID products that has led to a stock price decline by around half from its pandemic highs. It also forced the New York-based drugmaker to announce two separate cost cut plans for over $5.5 billion.

Chief Executive Albert Bourla was disappointed with the 2023 launch of RSV shot Abrysvo, but the company has expressed optimism about the vaccine in the U.S. this year.

Erin Fox, a professor at University of Utah who helps manage the university's health system pharmacies, traced the slow RSV demand to the government's June decision to narrow the pool of eligible recipients compared to last year when they launched.

"I think we're just going to see fewer patients falling into that clear category of needing the vaccine. You had all of that pent up demand, now it's definitely going to be a lower number of patients getting vaccinated," Fox said.

Jefferies analyst Peter Welford, in a note last week, said activity so far suggests that GSK's Arexvy sales could miss Wall Street expectations in the third quarter.

The RSV season typically begins in October.