AstraZeneca pulls its Covid-19 vaccine from sale for ‘commercial reasons’

British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced on Wednesday, May 8, that it is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria (the name of the AstraZeneca vaccine), one of the first to be marketed during the pandemic, citing commercial reasons.

“As more Covid-19 vaccines are developed, there is a surplus of updated vaccines” faced with different variants of the virus, “resulting in a drop in demand”he justified the group in a press release. “AstraZeneca has therefore taken the decision to initiate the withdrawal of the marketing authorization for Vaxzevria in Europe”it is stated in a document received on Wednesday by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) wrote on its website on Tuesday that the marketing authorization for Vaxzevria was withdrawn “at the request of the traffic license holder”, that is, a pharmaceutical laboratory. The group will too “work with other regulators around the world to initiate the withdrawal of the marketing authorization for Vaxzevria where there is no expected future demand for the vaccine”.

In its press release, AstraZeneca says it wants to “finish this chapter”. A source close to the group emphasized to AFP that there was none “I haven’t had any sales in a while”. “We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the pandemic”added in the press release, which confirms this “According to independent estimates, more than 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone” serum, “and more than 3 billion doses have been distributed worldwide”.

The vaccine has suffered several setbacks

If AstraZeneca’s profits jumped 21% year-on-year in the first quarter, driven in particular by oncology sales, the group has for months reported a steady decline in sales of drugs linked to Covid-19 – all like its rival GSK, which has largely fallen behind in the race to develop vaccines.

This vaccine, one of the first on the market, although serums were not AstraZeneca’s specialty, suffered several setbacks, including a marketing authorization that never reached the United States. He also had trouble giving birth in Europe, combined with a suspected increased risk of thrombosis after several deaths.

AstraZeneca says it updated information about Vaxzevria in April 2021, with the consent of the UK regulator MHRA, to include the possibility that it could cause thrombosis in rare cases. The United Kingdom, which first relied on Vaxzevria at the start of its Covid vaccination campaign, has since replaced it with competing serums.

The group regularly reminds that this has been assessed by regulators and the various states that have approved the vaccine “The benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risk of extremely rare side effects”.