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ASTRAZENECA must justify the “unequal” vaccine pricing it is offering countries, campaigners demanded today after the pharmaceutical giant revealed that its annual profits have more than doubled.
For 2020, the company reported pre-tax profits of $3.92 billion (£2.83bn) due to the success of new medicines.
The profits haul marks a significant rise on the $1.55bn (£1.12bn) seen in 2019.
Despite AstraZeneca claiming to offer its Covid-19 jab on a not-for-profit basis, the vaccine helped boost revenues over the year, contributing $2 million (£1.44m) to total turnover.
The company said it is set to deliver 100 million doses of its current vaccine globally this month, doubling to 200 million a month by April.
Last month South Africa announced that it is paying $5.25 (£3.80) per dose while the European Union will pay $2.16 (£1.56) per dose, according to information leaked by a Belgian minister on Twitter.
And the Ugandan government stated last week that it is paying $7 (£5.07) per dose for its 44 million population.
Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden said AstraZeneca’s bumper profits show that the company can “easily afford to provide its Covid-19 vaccine at cost price” during the pandemic and then after.
“But despite this pledge, it has yet to address the question of why lower-income countries like South Africa and Uganda are paying several times more per dose than the EU,” he said.
“This is not the ‘equitable access’ AstraZeneca has been trumpeting in its press releases.
“This global inequality cannot continue. If a booster shot is required to deal with Covid-19 variants, will AstraZeneca commit to providing it at the same price to all countries, including as a condition of any sub-licensing agreements?”
Mr Dearden said it is “an outrage that the countries with the least resources are being charged the most in the midst of a global health emergency.”
AstraZeneca said it now expects to deliver revenue growth in the “low-teens” percentage over 2021.
But it said the guidance does not incorporate any revenue or profit impact from sales of the Covid-19 vaccine, and that it intends to report these sales separately from the next quarter.
