Drugmaker AstraZeneca on Thursday announced that second-quarter sales of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine had more than tripled to $894 million from the previous three months.
AstraZeneca and its Indian manufacturing partner Serum Institute of India (SII) have supplied 1 billion doses to 170 countries so far.
AstraZeneca’s vaccines, developed by Oxford University, brought in $1.17 billion in sales in the first six months of year.
The vaccine developed by the Anglo-Swedish multinational company, headquartered in Cambridge, England, has proved effective against the pandemic as it is cheaper and easier to use than some of the other vaccines.
The drugmaker has had setbacks when it comes to the United States and has said that once again it has delayed it application for approval in America.
The vaccine has also faced other setbacks, including data disputes , production issues, and reports of rare side-effects leading some countries to stop or restrict its use.
AstraZeneca said on Thursday it now expected to seek US approval for the vaccine in the second half of this year.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine sales were based on deliveries of about 319 million doses, the drugmaker said, giving an average price of about $3.7 per dose. Deliveries from its partner, India-based Serum Institute, were not included.
AstraZeneca which did not forecast vaccine sales for the year has said it will not make a profit from the shot during the pandemic.
Also, while AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is among its best-selling products, the frontrunner is its lung cancer drug Tagrisso on $2.54 billion.
Rival drugmakers Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have projected full-year sales at $33.5 billion, $19.2 billion and $2.5 billion for their COVID-19 shots, respectively.
Reuters
