AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine Sales Drop To Zero As Health Officials Support Safer mRNA Injections

Astrazeneca boss Pascal Soriot said the company generated more than $1 billion in sales in the first half of the year from just eight drugs. Credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Sales of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid vaccine fell to zero as health officials switched to safer vaccines.

The Anglo-Swedish Pharmaceuticals Group recorded no vaccine sales for three months in the first quarter until the end of June, compared to $455m (£350m) in revenue in the same period last year.

Demand for the vaccine, known as Vaxzevria, is slowly declining after the NHS began offering alternative mRNA injections to people under 40 due to rare cases of blood clots. clot formation from an AstraZeneca injection is only one in 100,000 for people aged 40, but the rate rises to 1 in 60,000 for people aged 30.

Earlier this year, dozens of patients and their families sued a pharmaceutical company over a rare side effect.

Instead, health officials have supported mRNA vaccines, such as those made by Moderna and Pfizer. Unlike vector vaccines, such as Vaxzevria, these vaccines use an mRNA molecule to trigger an immune response instead of an actual virus or bacterium.

French pharmaceutical group Sanofi, which makes the protein-based vaccine, said today that it expects to generate 400 million euros in sales of the vaccine in the second half of the year, indicating that demand for vaccines remains strong.

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AstraZeneca did not initially make a profit on its vaccine, but began signing commercial contracts in late 2021 as the virus became more contained.

The company has previously said that potential side effects from its shot are «extremely rare.»< /p>

The Cambridge-based company still managed to increase first-half revenue by 4% to $22.3 billion, while its pre-tax profit more than quintupled to $4.4 billion.

Growth was driven by AstraZeneca's strong anti-cancer blockbuster performance.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said eight drug sales exceeded $1 billion in the first half of the year, with each of the company's divisions except Covid , grew in double digits.

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Mr Soriot said the company was «very encouraged» by the interim trial data for its lung cancer drug datopotamab deruxtecan.

Shares fell 8% earlier this month when AstraZeneca first released test results, and investors are concerned. the company did not describe the data as “clinically relevant.”

Mr. Soriot added, “We look forward to sharing the data with the medical community at the upcoming medical convention and are starting to transfer the data to the US. FDA.

AstraZeneca today also announced plans to acquire a portfolio of rare disease gene drugs from rival Pfizer in a deal worth up to $1 billion.

There are over 7,000 known rare diseases, about 80% of which are believed to be caused by a genetic mutation. The genomic drugs are designed to treat or treat these diseases by altering a faulty gene.

The deal builds on AstraZeneca's move into rare diseases through a $39 billion takeover of Alexion in 2021. Shares up 4% after announcement

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