LONDON – AstraZeneca PLC said it was troubleshooting production of its Covid-19 vaccine and expects to roughly double monthly production to 200 million doses by April as it seeks to break through a rocky start to the shot rollout .
The Anglo-Swedish drug company reported strong annual revenues and forecast higher profit growth in 2021. The forecast does not take into account sales of the pandemic vaccine it co-developed with the University of Oxford.
Like other vaccine makers, AstraZeneca and Oxford are working on new versions of the shot to address existing and emerging variants of the coronavirus. The drug company said Thursday that it hoped to produce a modified vaccine at scale within six to nine months, using clinical trial data and pre-existing manufacturing agreements.
Last year, AstraZeneca stumbled upon disclosing the results of clinical trials and more recently suffered a shortage of doses pledged to the European Union. Chief Executive Pascal Soriot and other executives said on Thursday that they were solving manufacturing bottlenecks and meeting targets of delivering more than 400 million doses to rich and poor countries in the coming months. That follows green lights in the UK, Europe and beyond for the use of the vaccine, which has not yet been approved for use in the US.
This week, the World Health Organization recommended the shot for wide worldwide use, including in countries battling a new strain of the coronavirus first discovered in South Africa. Limited research data has suggested that the vaccine is less effective against that version of the virus, although it appears to hold up against a fast-spreading variant first seen in the UK, particularly against severe symptoms.
The company’s difficulties in ramping up the vaccine, along with questions about the effectiveness of the shot, have hit the stock price and put executives on the defensive. In clinical studies, the two-injection vaccine has been found to be approximately 60% to 70% effective in combating symptomatic Covid-19, depending on the distance between doses and other factors.
The approval of the shot in December and January was positive for AstraZeneca, but was offset by production shortages that led to a striking standoff with European officials in January.
“Is it perfect? No, it’s not perfect, but it’s great, and tell me who is giving 100 million more doses in the month of February,” said Dr. Soriot on a phone call. He and his executives said the vaccine has shown strong protection against severe Covid symptoms and was crucial in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
Despite the complications of the pandemic and the problems posed by the vaccine, the drug maker has performed well over the past year, analysts said.
“It was that crucial [AstraZeneca] show that the strong momentum of their main company was not affected. [They] have not disappointed, ”said Citigroup analyst Andrew Baum.
AstraZeneca, better known for its established oncology drugs and other treatments, reported $ 26.6 billion in revenue for the year, up 9% from the prior year. Full year after-tax profit of $ 3.1 billion was more than double the previous year.
It recorded $ 2 million in sales of the Covid-19 vaccine in 2020, providing the earliest, limited glimpse of the start of its global campaign to roll out 3 billion doses this year. The company has pledged not to take advantage of the vaccine during the pandemic, or ever, in the case of low-income countries.
The UK was the first to authorize the mass vaccination shot on December 30. An AstraZeneca spokesperson said vaccine sales are booked only when doses are shipped, and the $ 2 million in sales are offset by costs.
The company has not provided advice on the expected sales of vaccines. In contrast, Pfizer Inc. last week it expected its Covid-19 vaccine to generate about $ 15 billion in sales this year, making it one of the US company’s best-selling products. The vaccine, developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE, contributed $ 154 million to sales in the fourth quarter, Pfizer said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine on Dec. 11, the first to be approved in the U.S. for emergency use.
There is no clear consensus as to whether AstraZeneca could ultimately benefit from the vaccine, or how much. The company said it would break out sales of Covid-19 vaccines separately from next quarter. The shot costs an average of $ 3 to $ 5 per dose, much cheaper than most vaccines in use or in pilot lines. The price and ease of transportation, along with AstraZeneca’s ambitious manufacturing plans, have made it a key part of lower-income countries’ hopes to get out of the pandemic.
All vaccine manufacturers face uncertainty over the sale of their injections, with new vaccines expected to increase competition, and mutations in the virus causing drug manufacturers to rush to adapt injections. Long-term sales depend on the success of modified shots and the course of the pandemic.
Write to Jenny Strasburg at [email protected]