Exclusive-AstraZeneca explores options for COVID-19 vaccine business

Authors: Alistair Smout and Pushkala Aripaka

LONDON (Reuters)-An executive told Reuters on Thursday that AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:) is exploring future options for its COVID-19 vaccine and expects this to become clearer by the end of 2021 .

After experiencing a series of setbacks in the race to produce vaccines for the world​​, the future of vaccines was reviewed. The executives emphasized that it is too early to say that the future decision of the vaccine will be made.

Although it has no previous vaccination experience, AstraZeneca last year agreed to cooperate with Oxford University for COVID-19 vaccination and promised not to make a profit during the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the $39 billion acquisition of rare drug company Alexion (NASDAQ:) is more important to the company’s business strategy, the COVID-19 vaccine has quickly become a public image of the company’s efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

“A small group of people reporting to Mene (Pangalos, research director) and me are thinking: Is this a sustainable business?” said Ruud Dobber, executive vice president and president of the biopharmaceutical business unit of AstraZeneca, referring to Vaccine business.

“We need to discuss with our senior management team and then with the AstraZeneca board of directors. We are exploring different options, but it is too early to draw conclusions at this stage.”

Dober added, “We will be clearer before the end of the year.”

“Hopefully before the end of the year, we will have a better understanding of how to move forward in the next few years,” he said.

“If you ask me whether the vaccine business is AstraZeneca’s sustainable business in the next 5 or 10 years, this major strategic issue is under discussion.”

too early

AstraZeneca was criticized by the European Union for providing injections and was sued by the European Union. Due to the rare clots associated with the vaccine, the vaccine also faces age restrictions, and its approval in the United States takes longer than expected.

CEO Pascal Soriot (Pascal Soriot) said that he has no regrets about participating in the COVID-19 vaccine because the company has already made “great changes.”

It has provided 1 billion doses of vaccines worldwide and has been hailed by the British government as a national success story in the fight against the pandemic.

Dober said that AstraZeneca’s “first commitment” is to provide hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine covered by the current contract.

“This is not a distraction,” he said.

He added that the company will keep its promise to provide a widely available and easily available vaccine. Soriot has said that even if the company gets rid of the non-profit model, low-income countries will always be able to afford the vaccine.

Results announced on Thursday showed that sales of the vaccine in the second quarter more than tripled from the first three months of this year, reaching $894 million.

However, unlike competitors, including Pfizer (NYSE:), it still drags on overall earnings. Dober said that if the vaccine business is to be sustainable, the company will have to stop losing money.

“This doesn’t mean that we won’t make a little profit if we keep going,” Dober said. “It is unsustainable to do this without profit, but it is too early to speculate on this.”