British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has announced that it is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine from markets worldwide, citing a slump in demand.
The company said its decision was due to an "overabundance of updated vaccines" on the market for various virus strains, and a "decline in demand" for its vaccine Vaxzevria, which AstraZeneca is no longer manufacturing or distributing.
As a result, AstraZeneca decided to initiate the withdrawal of Vaxzevria’s marketing authorisation in Europe.
The European Medicines Agency confirmed that the marketing authorisation for Vaxzevria had been withdrawn at the request of the pharmaceutical firm.
The group has said it will also work with worldwide regulators to withdraw marketing authorisations for Vaxzevria where no future demand for the vaccine is expected.
AstraZeneca stated its intent to "conclude this chapter" in its press release, with a company source indicating AstraZeneca’s lack of recent sales.
In its press release, AstraZeneca expressed immense pride in Vaxzevria’s role in ending the pandemic.
"Independent estimates indicate that over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of the serum’s use alone, and more than three billion doses have been distributed worldwide," it stated.
Despite a 21% jump in AstraZeneca’s profits in the first quarter, driven largely by oncology sales, the group has been reporting a steady decline in Covid-related medicine sales, similar to its rival GSK which also lagged in vaccine development.
The Vaxzevria vaccine, one of the first to market but not a speciality of AstraZeneca, faced several setbacks including non-approval in the US and delivery problems in Europe, amid suspicions of increased thrombosis risks following several deaths.
AstraZeneca clarified that in April 2021, in agreement with the British regulatory agency MHRA, they updated information on Vaxzevria to include the possibility of triggering rare thrombosis cases.
The UK initially relied on Vaxzevria for its vaccination rollout but later replaced it with rival vaccines. Nonetheless, AstraZeneca frequently points out that regulators and various states that authorised the vaccine determined that the benefits of vaccination far outweighed the risks of extremely rare side effects.
