AstraZeneca withdraws its vaccine against covid-19 from the market

Pharmaceutical group cited drop in demand as justification. The vaccine was one of the first to be applied during the pandemic, but it lost space to mRNA vaccines. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical conglomerate AstraZeneca announced this Wednesday (05/08) the end of sales of its vaccine against Covid-19 – one of the first produced during the pandemic – citing a reduction in demand.

“As multiple vaccines against Covid-19 variants have since been developed, there is a surplus of updated vaccines available. This has led to a drop in demand for Vaxzevria [nome comercial da vacina da AstraZeneca]which is no longer being produced or supplied,” the group said in a statement.

The withdrawal of the vaccine from the market began in Europe. On Tuesday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) stated that Vaxzevria’s sales authorization was withdrawn “at the request of the authorization holder”, that is, the pharmaceutical laboratory itself.

The company also stated that it “will work with other regulators around the world to begin withdrawing authorizations (…) in locations with no anticipated future demand for the vaccine.”

AstraZeneca, which developed the vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford in 2020, also said it wants to “complete this chapter” and highlighted “pride in Vaxzevria’s role in ending the global pandemic.” “According to independent estimates, more than 6.5 million lives were saved in just the first year of using the medicine,” the company added.

Trajectory

The vaccine, which has also been called Covishield or “Oxford Vaccine”, was one of the first to reach the market, back in January 2021. The first application to the general public took place in the United Kingdom. More than 3 billion doses have been distributed worldwide since then.

In 2021 alone, Vaxzevria sales totaled $4 billion in Vaxzevria worldwide.

But, over time, most countries in the world began to prioritize the application of mRNA vaccines, in particular the one produced by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in partnership with the German company BioNTech. In 2023, Vaxzevria sales totaled just $12 million.

In 2022, the world’s largest vaccine producer, the Serum Institute of India, had already halted production of its local version of AstraZeneca’s vaccine due to falling demand.

The AstraZeneca vaccine also faced several setbacks along its trajectory, including the lack of authorization for marketing in the United States, a country where the vaccine was only used in tests.

AstraZeneca also suffered lawsuits from the European Union for delays in the delivery of vaccines in 2021. Furthermore, the vaccine also faced temporary suspensions in its application in several European countries, such as Germany, due to suspicions of increasing the risk of thrombosis.

The company is currently facing a class action lawsuit in the UK on behalf of 51 claimants over injuries allegedly caused by Vaxzevria.

In 2020, the AstraZeneca vaccine was practically the only focus of purchases by the Jair Bolsonaro government, which ignored proposals from Pfizer and disregarded Coronavac promoted by the government of São Paulo.

The distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Brazil was initially marked by delays in the import of ready-made doses and ingredients for local production, which was the responsibility of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). In the end, Coronovac was the first vaccine that ended up being applied in Brazil, on January 17, 2021. The first dose of AstraZeneca was applied in the country on February 22 of the same year. More than 190 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in Brazil since then.

Over time, the AstraZeneca vaccine also lost space in the country to other immunizers, especially the Pfizer vaccine. In 2023, the Ministry of Health stopped recommending its application as a booster for people under 40 years of age.

jps (AFP, DW, ots)