It’s a page that is turning. The British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced on Wednesday May 8 that it was withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria from sale worldwide. It was one of the first to come to market during the pandemic, citing a drop in demand. The group reports a “surplus of updated vaccines” in the face of different variants of the virus, and a “decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer manufactured or distributed”, in a press release. “AstraZeneca has therefore taken the decision to initiate the withdrawal of the marketing authorization for Vaxzevria in Europe,” according to this press release received by AFP on Wednesday.
The European medicines authority, the EMA, wrote on its website on Tuesday May 7 that the sales authorization for Vaxzevria had been withdrawn “at the request of the marketing authorization holder”, namely the laboratory pharmaceutical. The group will also “work with other regulators around the world to initiate withdrawals of marketing authorizations for Vaxzevria where there is no expected future demand for the vaccine.” In its press release, AstraZeneca said it wanted to “conclude this chapter”. A source close to AstraZeneca told AFP that there had been “no sales for some time”.
Other countries have already stopped providing the vaccine. It has not been available in Australia since March 2023, although its use has already been phased out from June 2021 due to the wide availability of newer vaccines.
“We are incredibly proud of the role that Vaxzevria has played in ending the pandemic,” adds the press release, which states that “according to independent estimates, more than 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year alone. “use” of the serum, “and more than three billion doses have been distributed around the world”. The British pharmaceutical firm continues: “We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path to conclude this chapter and make a significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
One of the very first on the market
If AstraZeneca’s profit jumped 21% year-on-year in the first quarter, driven particularly by oncology sales, the group has been reporting for months a constant decline in sales of drugs linked to Covid – just like its rival GSK, which had been largely left behind in the race to develop a vaccine.
This vaccine, one of the very first on the market even though serums were not AstraZeneca’s specialty, had suffered several setbacks, including a green light for marketing which never arrived in the United States. It also experienced delivery problems in Europe, combined with suspicions of thrombosis risks. This very rare syndrome occurred in about two to three people in every 100,000 vaccinated with Vaxzevria.
The unloved vaccine
AstraZeneca says it updated information on Vaxzevria in April 2021, with the agreement of the British regulator MHRA, to include the possibility that it could trigger thrombosis in rare cases. The United Kingdom, which first relied on Vaxzevria at the start of its anti-Covid vaccination campaign, then replaced it with competing serums. The group regularly recalls that regulators and various states which have authorized the vaccine have estimated that “the benefits of vaccination largely eclipse the risks of extremely rare side effects”.
The announcement of its vaccine withdrawal comes as AstraZeneca suffered a shareholder rebellion over the ultimately approved £18.7 million salary of the pharmaceutical company’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, with more than a third of the votes cast against the agreement.