Albert Bourla
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Pfizer
Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Pfizer has had very solid start to the year. Revenues were up 82% operationally compared with the first quarter of 2021. Key growth drivers for the quarter included Comirnaty, Paxlovid, Eliquis, Vyndaqel/Vyndamax global, our Prevnar family of vaccines, and our Oncology Biosimilars portfolio in the U.S.
Overall, we reached an estimated 468 million patients around the world only in one quarter with our innovative medicines and vaccines which represent a 140% increase from the pre-year -- priority year quarter and it is a testament to our purpose, breakthroughs that change patients' lives. We continue to supply the world with the Comirnaty, which remains a critical tool in helping prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and deaths from COVID-19. To date, we have shipped nearly 3.4 billion doses of our vaccine to 179 countries. Comirnaty is the most utilized mRNA vaccine in the markets in which we operate, and the report markets to date.
Pfizer's cumulative share of doses administered in these markets has increased from 52% that used to be on January 1st, beginning of the year 2022 to 62% on May 1, 2022. Just few months 10 points. In developed markets, our share has increased from 59% to 67% over that same period of time. We also have had a strong start to the year with regard to regulatory milestones, including the emergency use authorization from the USFDA and conditional market authorization from EMA for our 12 to 15 year old booster dose. We have an EUA from the FDA for a second booster, the fourth dose in patients 50 years of age and older and 12 years of age and older, who are immunocompromised. And we had an extension to a 12-month frozen shelf life, 12 month from both the FDA and the EMA. Our ambition is to eventually achieve 24 months shelf life, which would help alleviate concerns some governance may have evolved having expired in dose.
In addition to the U.S. and the EU, we now have authorizations for the 5 to 11 age group in 44 other markets around the world. Now, this year, we have recently released new results from our Phase 2/3 clinical trial demonstrating that the 10-microgram booster dose of our vaccine in healthy children 5 through 11 years of age, increases geometric mean neutralizing antibodies titer geometric mean, neutralizing antibody titers wild type and Omicron variant.
Based on this data, last week, we submitted an application to the FDA for an EUA of a 10 microgram booster dose for children in this age group. And we look forward to filing in other jurisdictions in the near future. We also expect to serve data on our ongoing starting children who are 6 months to under 5 years, in the next few weeks. This study is looking at the safety and efficacy of three doses of a vaccine in this age group. And we hope to submit an application for an EUA soon, pending the results of the data readout, of course.
We stand ready to support boosting authorized operations today as well in the fall ahead of its revision and flu season. Independent real-world evidence from several countries have demonstrated that our booster doses improve protection that may have waned from the primary vaccination or since the first booster. Our market research shows that greater than 96% of healthcare provider respondents in key markets like the U.S. and the EU5 largest markets continue to recommend a third dose booster to their patients. We also have seen an upward trend in updates of the third dose booster in various development. In this same market but very -- for previously, 70% of people who have received the initial two-dose regimen reported that they have already received third dose booster, 74%. And the remaining 13%, the respondents said that they are very likely to receive the booster.
We believe this is encouraging leading indicator for the potential uptake for the fourth dose. We also continue to evaluate potential next-generation vaccines including variant vaccines to provide growth coverage from the fall and we look forward to evaluating and sharing these data in the coming months. We are also delivering on our commitments for Paxlovid, which is already having a profoundly positive impact on the lives of patients around the world. Through the end of March, we produced more than 6 million treatment courses, all of which have been shipped shortly after they were produced.
Because the financial calendar quarter for international markets ends in February and the majority of the 6 million treatments were produced in March, only a small portion of these shipments were recorded in our first quarter revenues. In fact, as of today, we have shipped approximately 8 million treatment courses. Our manufacturing ramp up is progressing as planned, and we are on track to produce 24 million courses in the second quarter for a total of 30 million in the first half of the year.
All of these quantities have already been allocated to existing partners. In addition, we remain on track to produce 120 million courses for the full year as previously stated. To date, Paxlovid has received regulatory approvals for temporary authorization for use with certain populations in more than 60 countries. We continue to have discussions with governments and regulatory agencies around the world about bringing this potential breakthrough treatment to additional markets. Some countries that they have experienced the recent outbreaks just come back to us to request additional treatment courses, which we are responding to with urgence. Others are taking steps to expand access. For example, Italian government recently announced an expansion of prescribing into primary care. We believe this shift from having only specialists prescribe Paxlovid will help ensure more patients get access at the right time.
In the U.K., Paxlovid will not be included in the national panoramic study, which expect we expect will increase access and collect further data regarding how the therapy works in the market where the majority of the adult population is vaccinated. This is important because today the U.K. has restricted Paxlovid use to be a very limited population and this study could lead to government to open up access to a much broader population, closer to the authorized population. In Canada, we expect increasing supply and the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions will enable greater access for patients across the country. Quebec and Ontario, which represent the two largest provinces, and are home to more than 60% of Canada's population have expanded distribution to eligible pharmacies, allowed pharmacies to prescribe -- I mean allowed pharmacists to prescribe, and started a comprehensive direct to consumer and social media campaign to ensure all eligible patients are aware on the availability of Paxlovid.
Here in the U.S., we have seen Paxlovid utilization grow nearly tenfold in recent weeks. Paxlovid was administered to more than 29,000 patients in the U.S. till week ending April 22nd, up from approximately 8,000 patients for the week ending February 25, 2022. We will continue to work with the U.S. government and healthcare providers to appropriately drive even higher utilization. And based on data from IQVIA Exponent, Paxlovid market share, relative to Molnupiravir in the retail long-term care and mail order channels, grew from 44% in that week ending January, 28th of 2022 to almost 90% in the week ending April 22, 2022. Together, these channels represent estimated 50% of Paxlovid utilization in the U.S. The number of locations in the U.S. with Paxlovid supply continues to increase with more than 33,000 sites live, as of today. This is more than a fourfold increase since late February, leading to easier patient access.
The U.S. government declared its intention to double the size again in the coming weeks and making Paxlovid available to any pharmacy for ways to stock. In addition, 77% of recent U.S. COVID-19 cases occur within 5 miles of the closest retail point of care, which is up from only 23% since February. We expect this trend to continue to increase, driven by the U.S. government's Test to Treat initiative. For example, nearly 1,100 more Test to Treat locations have been added since the beginning of April only. To date, there are more than 2,200 locations of Test to Treat open.
Overall, we expect the recent trends to expand access as well as inquiries received from governments as the virus mutates and cause spikes in infections around the world to result in increased orders in the coming months as governments continue to help protect their citizens who are at higher risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and in response to emerging variants and continuing progress.
Now, I will turn to our business development strategy. We leverage business development opportunities to advance our business strategies, and objectives. We recently announced positive top line results from a year of Phase 3 trial of Etrasimod in moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis. These results underscore Pfizer's ability to identify strong business development targets as the potentially best-in-class product candidate came to us via our recent acquisition of Arena. We look forward to presenting this data and filing for approval later this year.
First quarter, we discussed how the strength of our balance sheet and cash flows gives us the ability to pursue new business development opportunities that, if successful, would add at least $25 billion of risk-adjusted revenues to our 2030 top-line expectations. Our planned acquisition of ReViral is the first deal to be counted towards this ambition. ReViral is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel antiviral therapeutics that target respiratory syncytial virus. Basically, they target RSV. We believe annual revenue from these programs, if successful, has the potential to reach or exceed $1.5 billion, which is peak revenues.
We also are excited about the prospect of adding several experienced virologists to our team. Building relationships within the growing part of the ecosystem remains a priority for Pfizer. We continue to pursue new creative ways of partnering with biotechs to increase our access to cutting-edge innovation and to bring our resources to bear -- help drive recovery for patients. We believe our scientific expertise, our end-to-end development, and manufacturing capabilities, makes us an extremely attractive partner as seen, for example, through our relationship with BioNTech, and we are confident that we have the financial resources to support business development opportunities that will complement and enhance our internal R&D efforts and add capacity and flexibility to support our growing clinical portfolio.
Next, I would like to discuss some of our recent ESG highlights. First, we announced in February the results of Pfizer's third annual pay equity study in which a recognized compensation expert confirmed equitable pay practices for employees at Pfizer. The results indicated that Pfizer compensates female colleagues at a level that is greater than 99% of what male colleagues are paid across the globe. Additionally, in the U.S., minorities are paid dollar for dollar parity of what non-minorities are paid. When you look at Pfizer's medium pay for women globally, it is in high 102.3% for the median pay of males. However, when you look at the median pay for minorities in the U.S. workforce, it is 85.5% of the median pay for non-minorities. This median raise pay gap is an area we are actively addressing and that we expect to narrow.
Second, I want to reiterate that Pfizer stands with the unified global community in opposition to Russia's invasion through Ukraine. While Pfizer is maintaining our humanitarian supply of medicines to Russians, as we do, we will be donating all profits of our Russian subsidiary to causes that provide direct humanitarian support to Ukraine. Additionally, we will no longer initiate new clinical trials in Russia and we'll stop recruiting new patients in our ongoing clinical trials in the country. Pfizer will work with the FDA and other regulators to transition all ongoing clinical trials to alternative sites outside Russia. And consistent with our commitment to putting patients first, we will continue providing medicines to the patients already enrolled in clinical trials in Russia. Lastly, we are seizing all future investments with local suppliers, intended to build manufacturing capacity in Russia.
So, further demonstrating our commitment to equitable access, we have made the decision that for as long as the pandemic lasts, Pfizer will not profit from sales of our COVID-19 treatment through the world's poorest countries. In March, Pfizer announced an agreement with UNICEF to supply up to 4 million treatment courses of Paxlovid to 95 low- and middle-income countries. Under the agreement, all low and lower-middle-income countries will be offered the treatment courses at a not-for-profit price, while upper-middle-income countries will pay a price defined in Pfizer's tiered pricing approach.
Lastly, I'm pleased to say that Pfizer continues to be recognized as an ethical patient-focused company that calls itself and its employees and its business partners to high standards. In March, Pfizer was recognized as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. And thus, last week and we are so proud about it, for the first time ever, Pfizer ranked first among big pharma companies in the Patient View global survey in 2021. This ranking is based on feedback from more than 2000 patient organizations and associations worldwide. As recently as 2018, we were ranked fifth and we have steadily climbed in the rankings ever since. But we are so proud that we are number one brand.
Now, I would like to welcome two new members of Pfizer Executive Leadership Team, Dr. William Pao joined us on March 21st as Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer. Throughout his 25 year career as an oncologist and scientist, William has amassed extensive clinical and deep scientific expertise that make him the ideal partner to continue our pursuit in breakthrough medicines and vaccines for the benefit of patients and society. Just yesterday, David Denton joined us as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. Dave brings with him more than 25 years of finance and operational expertise, including more than 20 years in the health care sector. As a result, he brings Pfizer a unique perspective on the role of payers, the needs of patients, and the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. We are thrilled to welcome these two highly effective and visionary leaders at this critical time for our company and global health.
And now, before I hand it off to Mikael, I want to take a moment to thank Frank D'Amelio, my best friend at Pfizer for his many contributions to Pfizer. In addition to helping ensure Pfizer's financial strength, ambition, Frank has been an incredible member to many of Pfizer's current leaders, helped set our long-term growth strategy, and work tirelessly to ensure Pfizer has the resources it needs to help improve the lives of patients around the world. Frank, on behalf of all Pfizer colleagues, and I'm sure all the analysts on today's call and not only, I wish you continued good health and success.
With that, I will turn it over to Mikael to update you on the R&D efforts. After Mikael, Frank will provide financial details on the first quarter and our outlook for the remaining -- the remainder of 2022. Mikael?
