Thanks to the pandemic, Pfizer earned a record $100 billion in revenue

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer earned a record amount of revenue, selling more than $100 billion in 2022, an increase of 23%. The increase is attributed almost exclusively to sales of the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to reports published on Tuesday, discounting revenues from the vaccine and the drug Paxlovid, which was created to treat the most severe cases of coronavirus, the company's earnings would have only increased 2%.

The U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm saw a profit in 2022 of $31.37 billion, up 43% from the previous year.

"2022 was a record-breaking year for Pfizer, not only in terms of revenue and earnings per share, which were the highest in our long history, but more importantly, in terms of the percentage of patients who have a positive perception of Pfizer and the work we do," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.

However, projections for 2023 are not nearly as high due to significant drops that are expected in sales of both vaccines and COVID-19 drugs.

Pfizer estimates that it will sell $13.5 billion in vaccines in 2023, 64% less than last year. The company projects Paxlovid sales to be around $8 billion, a drop of 58% from 2022. Meanwhile, all other revenues are expected to increase by 7-9%.

The company projects its 2023 revenues to range from $67 billion to $71 billion, which would represent a 29-33% reduction from the $100 billion figure from 2022.