By Charlotte Webster-
AstraZeneca has signed a series of for-profit agreements for next year, with the goal of making what it described as a modest income from the vaccine, it said.
The company which previously said it would only start to make money from the vaccine when Covid-19 was no longer a pandemic, has changed its mind and is pushing towards profit maxing in rich countries, as its chief executive Pascal Soriot said the disease was becoming endemic.
The company said it had supplied $2.22bn worth of the drug, representing delivery of 580 million doses, in the first nine months of 2021 – including $1.05bn in the third quarter.
When including partners sub-licensed to make the vaccine it has released 1.5bn doses for supply in more than 170 countries, the company said.
It said that it was “now expecting to progressively transition the vaccine to modest profitability as new orders are received”.
That will result in a “limited” profit contribution from the last three months of this year though the “large majority” of sales in the period will come from agreements already in place, AZ said.
The company said the jab will continue to be supplied on a not-for-profit basis to poorer countries.
The business aspect of vaccines has been one of the factors contributing to scepticism by anti-vaxers in relation to the push for vaccination. reducing the spread of the virus has been highlighted as crucial to global health.
Mr Soriot had said previously: “We decided to provide it at no profit, because our top priority was to protect global health.”
He said the vaccine had saved a million lives around the world.
He told the BBC : “I absolutely don’t regret it,” Mr Soriot said. “We are proud as a company of the impact we have had – we’ve saved millions of hospitalisations. The [AstraZeneca] team continues to do a stellar job.”He said that the contracts that had been signed are for next year, adding: “The virus is becoming endemic which means we have to learn to live with it.
“We started this to help, but we said we would transition [to making a profit on the vaccine],” he said. “It’s not something we see as a huge profit-earner.”
There will be tiered pricing for countries to make sure the vaccine is affordable, Mr Soriot said.
Other vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer and Moderna have been making profits from their vaccines.
In its latest financial results, AstraZeneca said: “The company is now expecting to progressively transition the vaccine to modest profitability as new orders are received.
“Covid-19 vaccine sales in [the fourth quarter of 2021] are expected to be a blend of the original pandemic agreements and new orders, with the large majority coming from pandemic agreements.”
By the end of September, AstraZeneca and its sub-licensees had supplied 1.5 billion doses.