Oct 31 Reuters Pfizer on Tuesday urged investors to focus on growth in its nonCOVID products such as its new RSV vaccine Abrysvo, after weak demand for its COVID19 vaccine and treatment pushed the drugmaker to its first quarterly loss since 2019.

As announced earlier this month, the company recorded a 5.6 billion onetime charge to account for the U.S. government returning millions of doses of its antiviral treatment Paxlovid, as well as inventory of its vaccine Comirnaty.

A drop in the use of vaccines and products as the pandemic receded has fueled a 40 drop in Pfizer39;s shares this year and could remain a drag going forward, analysts have said. The stock fell about 2 in early trading.

With the sharp decline in COVID demand, Pfizer is still going to be under pressure to meet its sales guidance for 2023, said BMO Capital analyst Evan Seigerman.

Sales of the COVID19 treatment and the vaccine it makes with German partner BioNTech SE had boosted Pfizer39;s revenue to record levels in the last two years. However, annual vaccination rates have dropped sharply and demand for treatments has dipped as populationwide immunity has increased.

In a statement ahead of a conference call with investors, Pfizer said it continued to expect revenue growth of 68 from its nonCOVID products for the year, with a majority of it occurring in the second half.

Sales of its recently launched respiratory syncytial virus RSV vaccine, Abrysvo, came in at 375 million for the quarter.

Even so,…