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LONDON – AstraZeneca PLC has said it is solving manufacturing issues for its Covid-19 vaccine and expects to double monthly production to 200 million doses by April, as it seeks to overcome a difficult start in the deployment of fire.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has reported strong full-year profits and expects profit growth in 2021. The forecast does not take into account sales of the pandemic vaccine it developed alongside the University of ‘Oxford.
Like other vaccine makers, AstraZeneca and Oxford are working on new versions of the vaccine to target existing and emerging variants of the coronavirus. The drugmaker said Thursday that it hopes to achieve large-scale production of a suitable vaccine within six to nine months, using clinical trial data and manufacturing agreements already in place.
Last year, AstraZeneca stumbled in releasing clinical trial results and more recently suffered a shortfall in doses promised to the European Union. Managing Director Pascal Soriot and other executives said Thursday they were working on production issues and would meet targets of delivering more than 400 million doses to rich and poor countries in the coming months. This follows green lights in the UK, Europe and beyond for use of the vaccine, which is not yet approved for use in the US.
This week, the World Health Organization recommended the vaccine for wide global use, including in countries struggling with a new strain of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa. Limited trial data has suggested that the vaccine is less effective against this version of the virus, although it appears to be resistant to a rapidly spreading variant first seen in the UK, particularly against severe symptoms.
The company’s difficulties in getting the vaccine up and running, as well as questions about the effectiveness of the shot, hit its stock price and put executives on the defensive. The two-dose vaccine has been shown in clinical trials to be around 60% to 70% effective in fighting symptomatic Covid-19, depending on the distance between the doses and other factors.
Shooting adoptions in December and January were positive for AstraZeneca, but were offset by manufacturing deficits that led to a high-profile standoff with EU officials in January.
“Is it perfect? No it’s not perfect, but it’s great, and tell me who else is producing 100 million doses in February,” Dr Soriot said on a call. . He and his officials told him the vaccine had shown strong protection against severe symptoms of Covid and was essential in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
Despite the complications of the pandemic and the problems with the vaccine, the drugmaker performed well last year, analysts said.
“It was essential that [AstraZeneca] demonstrate that the strong dynamic of their core business has not been affected. [They] did not disappoint, ”said Andrew Baum, analyst at Citigroup.
AstraZeneca, best known for its well-established oncology drugs and other treatments, reported sales of $ 26.6 billion for the year, a 9% increase from the previous year. The annual after-tax profit of $ 3.1 billion was more than double the previous year.
It recorded $ 2 million in sales in 2020 with the Covid-19 vaccine, offering the earliest and most limited glimpse of the start of its global campaign to deploy 3 billion doses this year. The company has pledged not to take advantage of the vaccine during the pandemic, or never, in the case of low-income countries.
The UK was the first to authorize the vaccine for mass immunizations on December 30. A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said vaccine sales are only recorded when doses are shipped and the $ 2 million in sales is offset by costs.
The company has not given advice on expected vaccine sales. In contrast, last week Pfizer Inc. said it expected its Covid-19 vaccine to generate around $ 15 billion in sales this year, making it one of the best-selling products in American society. The vaccine, developed with German company BioNTech SE, contributed $ 154 million in fourth-quarter sales, Pfizer said. The United States Food and Drug Administration cleared the vaccine, the first to be cleared for emergency use in the United States, on December 11.
There is no clear consensus on whether AstraZeneca could possibly benefit from the vaccine, or by how much. The company said it will split sales of Covid-19 vaccines separately starting next quarter. The price of the vaccine is $ 3 to $ 5 per dose on average, much cheaper than most vaccines in use or in trial pipelines. Its price and ease of transport, along with AstraZeneca’s ambitious production plans, have made it an important part of the hopes of low-income countries to emerge from the pandemic.
All vaccine makers face uncertainty over the sales of their vaccines, new vaccines are expected to increase competition and mutations in the virus causing drug makers to rush to adapt vaccines. Long-term sales depend on the success of the modified shots and the trajectory of the pandemic.
Write to Jenny Strasburg at [email protected]
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