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British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said that with the acceleration of its global vaccination program, its Covid jab sales have reached US$1.2 billion in the first half of this year.
Agence France-Presse said in a statement that in the three months ending in June, sales more than tripled from $275 million in the three months ending in March to $894 million. AstraZeneca shipped 319 million doses in the first half of the year, of which European sales were 572 million U.S. dollars, and other market sales were 455 million U.S. dollars.
Previously, the US drugmaker Pfizer (Pfizer) raised its annual revenue and profit forecasts due to the surge in demand for its competitor’s Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by BioNTech in Germany.
“We have made great progress on the Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria,” said Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca. “As of today, AstraZeneca and our partners have distributed 1 billion doses of drugs to more than 170 countries.”
Working with scientists at Oxford University to develop a vaccine, and their decision to provide it at a cost but not profit, made this Anglo-Swiss company a household name.
As a result of this decision, AstraZeneca’s performance dwarfs that of Pfizer. Pfizer expects sales of Covid vaccines this year to reach 33.5 billion U.S. dollars. AstraZeneca added that the group’s net profit in the first half of the year jumped 40% to US$2.1 billion. Total revenue increased by nearly a quarter, reaching 15.5 billion U.S. dollars.
However, as previously reported by The Guardian, studies have shown that at least 97% of the funds used to develop the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine come from taxpayers or charitable trusts.
The vast majority of funds, especially in the early stages of research, come from British government departments, British and American scientific research institutions, the European Commission, and charities including the Wellcome Foundation.
Oxford University initially stated that any vaccines it develops will be open to qualified manufacturers without royalties, and will be priced at cost or marginal profit. However, by August 2020, it was reported that, at the urging of institutions such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the university decided to change the curriculum. It signed an exclusive license agreement with AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca has signed several licensing agreements with major manufacturers including the Serum Institute of India to ensure widespread production of the vaccine.
But the company reserves the right to increase the price of vaccines when deciding the end of the Covid-19 pandemic-if regular booster injections are required in the next few years to maintain immunity to the virus and its variants, this will lead to potential windfalls.
AZ Jab faces safety concerns and a suspension in some European countries due to reports of rare blood clots. However, the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have declared that the benefits outweigh any risks.
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