By: Andrew Cheng

Pfizer was an unheard company for me until the pandemic when it invented and produced the vaccine for Covid-19. The company has made huge profits from the vaccine, but it raised questions regarding how Pfizer could keep functioning before it made profits. This question led me to research this company and conduct a SWOT analysis for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strengths:

1. Pfizer has a lengthy historical background. The company began in 1849, started by two German Americans as a fine chemical business. The company has more than 170 years of experience and moved from a one-stop shop to a multinational corporation.

2. Pfizer also has brand recognition, which means they have developed several well-known products worldwide, such as Advil, Viagra, Xanax, EpiPen, and Nexium24HR.

3. At last, Pfizer has strongly responded against the Covid 19 pandemic. The company has provided the fastest vaccine approved, rolled out, and mass-administered to the public.

Weakness:

1. Pfizer has faced a tremendous amount of drug lawsuits, and it has met thousands of cases and holds the record for the most prominent fine paid for a health care fraud lawsuit. The court ordered Pfizer to pay 2.3 billion in fines, penalties, and settlements for illegal marketing claims.

2. Pfizer has an issue with the vaccine supply. At the end of 2020 Pfizer, they made a quote to provide the vaccine but later failed to meet the quote. As a result, Pfizer scrutinized the plan for vaccine development and delivery. The company also has been noted for benefiting billions of dollars from federal funding to mass produce the vaccine.

Opportunities:

1. Vaccine development. There are future avenues for vaccine approval and effectiveness, and both ways will strengthen their profits in the vaccine products.

2. New merger. Pfizer will combine some of its division companies to gather resources and opportunities to make more profits.

Threat:

1. Pfizer’s profits have dropped after the expiration of one of its products, Lyrica, a fibromyalgia drug. This change caused Pfizer to drop a few positions in the Fortune 500 global rankings.

2. Pfizer hasn’t come up with a practical solution for patients allergic to the vaccine, which was a problem as soon as the vaccine was approved.

3. Pfizer also needs to deal with the unpredictable demand for vaccines. Up to recent days, the vaccine has been spread all over the nation. There is still no specific data on the amount of vaccine needed since it has to be involved with the second and third shots for each patient.