The global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has failed to ignite CSL shares despite boosting offshore pharmaceutical firms, with analysts warning that vaccine making won’t be a key revenue driver for the homegrown biotech giant.
Meanwhile, global vaccine stocks are booming, with the Nasdaq healthcare index up 9.3 per cent so far this year compared with the local health index’s drop of 1.7 per cent. Of CSL’s $US8.8 billion in sales revenue in 2020, only $US1.3 billion was from vaccine making. The core of the ASX-listed giant’s business is in its speciality plasma products group, which has been disrupted over the past year due to reduced foot traffic at its US collection centres.
“CSL is proud of our ongoing contribution to Australia’s COVID response, including our hyperimmune program, our support for the University of Queensland vaccine program and re-tooling for the AstraZeneca vaccine,” a spokeswoman said earlier this month.Morningstar healthcare analysts are expecting Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna to lead sales as the COVID-19 vaccine and treatments market grows to be worth tens of billions of dollars annually.