Pfizer To Boost Production Of Oral COVID-19 Pill With $120M Michigan Investment

Pfizer, Inc. PFE is upping its commitment to manufacture its oral COVID-19 pill Paxlovid in the United States.

What Happened: Pfizer will invest an incremental $120 million at its Kalamazoo, Michigan facility to augment production of Paxlovid, the pharma giant said in a statement late Monday.

The spending will be used for expanding the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and registered starting materials used for the manufacture of nirmatrelvir, one of the two components of Paxlovid.

The company expects the investment to create 250 additional, high-skilled jobs at the Michigan manufacturing site.

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"This investment is another major step in Pfizer's effort to bring more key biopharmaceutical manufacturing to the U.S., increasing Pfizer's capability to produce and supply treatments and medicines for patients in the U.S. and around the world," Pfizer said in a statement.

Why It's Important: Pfizer's COVID-19 portfolio includes Paxlovid and Comirnaty, the COVID-19 vaccine it co-developed with BioNTech SE BNTX. Paxlovid, which was launched in December in the U.S., fetched Pfizer $1.5 billion in global sales in the first quarter. It has been authorized in several other countries as well.

Pfizer expects the oral pill to generate $22 billion in revenue in 2022.

Price Action: Pfizer closed Monday's session 0.11% higher at $53.26, according to Benzinga Pro data.