Astra Zeneca to make ‘modest profit’ from jab
DRUGS giant AstraZeneca is to start making a “modest profit” from the sale of its Covid jab.
When it launched the vaccine the firm was hailed for not cashing in on the coronavirus breakthrough.
But in July this year boss Pascal Soriot said that at “some point in future we will move to an affordable price”.
And in results yesterday AstraZeneca said it expected to “progressively transition the vaccine to modest profitability as new orders are received”.
Rivals such as Pfizer have sold their Covid vaccines on a commercial basis and have made bumper profits.
Anna Marriott, at Oxfam, accused AstraZeneca of breaking promises of a non-profit vaccine during the pandemic “and to never to make a profit in any low- and middle-income country from this publicly funded vaccine”.
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said: “AstraZeneca’s decision to start profiting from Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine midpandemic shows the utter folly of giving publicly funded science to big pharma.”
It came as AstraZeneca revealed that sales jumped by 50 per cent to £7.4billion in the three months to September,
with around £780million coming from its Covid vaccine.The company stuck to its full-year profit guidance.
AstraZeneca also unveiled plans to set up a separate arm for vaccines and antibody treatments which focus on Covid.
Sales of the jab in the final three months are “expected to be a blend of the original pandemic agreements and
new orders, with the large majority coming from pandemic agreements”.
AstraZeneca’s core drugs for cancer, rare diseases and heart conditions disappointed, with a lower-than-expected growth in sales of lung-cancer drug Tagrisso due to price cuts in China.
However, asthma drug Symbicort did well in emerging markets.