AstraZeneca withdraws Covid-19 vaccine

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AstraZeneca is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine less than four years after its UK launch after a “surplus” of drugs targeting newer variants led to sinking demand for the jab.

On Wednesday AstraZeneca said it was “proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic”, but was no longer manufacturing or supplying the product due to a “surplus of available updated vaccines”.

The decision spells the end of the road for the vaccine that was created in collaboration with scientists from Oxford university within months of the outbreak of the pandemic, and approved in the UK in late 2020, with over 3bn doses supplied since its launch.

Unlike rivals Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna, AstraZeneca initially adopted a non-profit model for its vaccine, selling it “at cost” as part of its agreement with Oxford, and the drug played a key role in ending the pandemic. However its rollout was plagued by rare incidents of blood clotting and friction with the European Union over access to the product.

“According to independent estimates, over 6.5mn lives were saved in the first year of use alone,” AstraZeneca said, but added that multiple Covid-19 vaccines had since been developed, hitting sales of its own product.

The announcement comes after the pharmaceutical group requested in March that the European Union marketing authorisation for Vaxzevria be withdrawn, a request that was granted on Tuesday.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been superseded by jabs from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, which were developed using mRNA technology and have become the most used worldwide.

AstraZeneca’s jab made just $12mn in revenue in 2023, according to the company’s full-year results, compared to almost $4bn in 2021. AstraZeneca signed its first for-profit deals in late 2021, as the company said the pandemic had moved into an “endemic phase”.

The vaccine was approved in the UK in December 2020 and in the EU in January 2021 but it never received approval in the US, where authorities criticised how the company presented data on the efficacy of its vaccine.

The vaccine was safe and effective overall but confidence in the jab took a hit in 2021 after a series of rare blood-clotting incidents, which led European authorities to limit its use among younger populations.

The company is contesting a legal case from Jamie Scott, who claims he developed a severe blood clot because he took the vaccine. If found liable, any damages would be covered by a UK government vaccine damage payment scheme. The company said the withdrawal was not linked to the rare blood-clotting incidents.

AstraZeneca said: “We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic.”