AstraZeneca has clinched the first its deals that will see the company make profit from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The move means the firm has not only backed away from its previous position of a completely non-profit model. Until now, the Anglo-Swedish company has not been making a profit from the coronavirus jab and declared it would not do so during the pandemic. It also puts a stain on the company’s image at a time when the entire African continent and other poorer nations are struggling to obtain vaccines for their populations leading to fatalities that can easily be prevented. The humanitarian aspect of the matter does not appear to be of major concern to several major pharmaceutical companies who are placing profit over human lives.

The profits these companies are making might be short term but the the history books don’t forget and that is something that will never go away.

The company had initially been praised by many international organizations for selling at modest prices during an international crisis and putting profits aside.

AstraZeneca now stands to go from hero to villain.

According to the latest financial results, AstraZeneca vaccines have indeed proved to have a low income on earnings so far this year. Now, as new orders are received, Britain’s biggest pharma firm expects the vaccine to move to “modest profitability.”

Explaining the change of plan, chief executive Pascal Soriot told reporters: “we started this project to help… but we also said that at some stage in the future, we will transition to commercial orders”

He claims, “It will never be high priced because we want the vaccine to remain affordable to everybody around the world.” Soriot further tried to justify the move by saying the virus was becoming “endemic,” a term for a disease or condition that is regularly found among particular people or in a certain area; a part of everyday life.

But the goal of the World Health Organization is to procure much more vaccines for its COVAX program that goes on to deliver them to poorer countries free of charge so that the virus does not become part of everyday life.

Another problem is poorer nations or COVAX will only be able to buy a limited number of vaccines for distribution to poorer nations if they are being sold at a more expensive price.

The timing raises questions as well.

Europe is bracing itself for another covid wave. Record figures have been registered over the past few weeks with infections and fatalities increasing significantly. Partial lockdowns have already started in some countries.

As it turns out Western made vaccines have a short shelf time. The antibodies of two doses are fading away and governments are racing to purchase third booster shots.

With new deals awaiting, it is the perfect time to cash in for the pharmaceutical companies who can sell at high prices to wealthy nations that can afford to buy. Soriot however, is standing by AstraZeneca’s move saying, “I absolutely don’t regret it.”

The company says when including partners that the AstraZeneca has sub-licensed to make the vaccine it has released 1.5bn doses for supply in more than 170 countries. It said that it was “now expecting to progressively transition the vaccine to modest profitability as new orders are received.”

For the third quarter, the vaccine did make a small positive contribution to earnings. AstraZeneca said its revenues for the quarter has risen by 50% to $9.87bn. But profits fell short of expectations, something that may also have played play a role in the change of the financial plans.

AstraZeneca was quick to point out that, when speaking to reporters, Soriot had emphasized that its key focus remained delivering on its no-profit commitments. Time will tell whether that commitment will stay in place. Charity groups are not optimistic.

In response to the AstraZeneca’s announcement, Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager and spokesperson for the People’s Vaccine Alliance denounced the firm saying “AstraZeneca is breaking its repeated and celebrated public promises of a non-profit vaccine for all countries for the duration of this pandemic and to never to make a profit in any low- and middle-income country from this publicly funded vaccine. It is turning its back on these commitments at a time when the pandemic still rages and 98 percent of people in the poorest countries are not yet fully vaccinated.”

She also argued that while AstraZeneca has said the vaccine will remain non-profit for developing nations “[Oxfam] understand that 75 middle-income countries including Indonesia, The Philippines, South Africa and Zimbabwe are excluded from their commitment. AstraZeneca must immediately and unequivocally confirm that it will not profit from any sales of the vaccine for any low or middle-income country whether via bilateral deals or COVAX.”

Anna Marriott noted that “with the number of people dying from COVID-19 rapidly rising above five million and given the development of this vaccine was 97 per cent funded by taxpayers and charities there can be no justification for this decision.”

“It is time for the Oxford University to partner with the World Health Organization so that this life-saving publicly funded vaccine technology can be shared as a global public good and produced by as many capable manufacturers around the world as possible.

In a very recent report Amnesty International said six top manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine “are fuelling an unprecedented human rights crisis through their refusal to waive intellectual property rights and share vaccine technology.”

In the report titled “A Double Dose of Inequality” the rights group denounced AstraZeneca, BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer for “wheeling and dealing in favor of wealthy states.”

It said, “Broken promises from pharmaceutical corporations and rich country governments have been an enduring theme of this pandemic when it comes to vaccine access.”

The announcement by AstraZeneca comes on the backdrop of its U.S. rival Pfizer announcing that it expects to enjoy major profits in the sales of its COVID-19 vaccine. Those sales are expected to total $36bn this year.

Amnesty added that “Pfizer has been able to earn billions of dollars in revenue in the last three months alone, while failing to provide vaccines to billions of people, is a failure of catastrophic proportions. Not only has the vast majority of its vaccines gone to high and upper-middle-income countries but Pfizer has also consistently refused to waive its intellectual property rights and share vaccine technology, while at the same time benefitting from billions of dollars in government funding and advance orders from wealthy countries.”

“The apparently unquenchable thirst for profits of big pharmaceutical companies, like Pfizer, is fuelling an unprecedented human rights crisis.”

This is while all medical experts agree that vaccinating the globe is the only pathway out of the Pandemic.

However, some pharmaceutical firms do not seem that bothered for the Pandemic to finish, as long as they are cashing in, critics are saying they actually appear quite comfortable to lay back and count the profits.

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The British AstraZeneca vaccine is 11 percent effective against new mutants of coronavirus identified in South Africa and Brazil, he added.

The Iranian Sputnik vaccine will be unveiled on Saturday in the presence of the Iranian ambassador to Russia, he noted, ISNA reported.

The Razi Cov Pars vaccine has passed the first phase of the human trial and its second phase is close to completion, Namaki said, adding, Cinnagen vaccine has completed the second phase of the clinical trial; however, we are supporting several platforms at the same time.

Developed by Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute and Pasteur Institute of Iran, Pastu Covac vaccine is a conjugate vaccine with two injectable doses. It consists of the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein conjugated chemically to tetanus toxoid.

The two first phases of the human trial have been conducted in Cuba, while the third phase is underway with 24,000 volunteers in Iran and 44,000 volunteers in Cuba.

In Iran, it was performed on a population of 18 to 80 years in seven provinces and eight cities across the country.

Mass vaccination

Mass vaccination against COVID-19 started on Iranian citizens with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine on February 9.

While Iran continues efforts to mass-produce local candidates, several foreign vaccines have already been imported and others are expected soon.

Iran is also producing vaccines jointly with three countries of Cuba, Russia, and Australia, which may also be released by September.

Homegrown vaccines

COVIRAN BAREKAT, the first coronavirus vaccine made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, which has received the license for public use on June 14.

The vaccine was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and started to be mass-produced on March 29.

Razi Cov Pars, developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, is the second Iranian-made vaccine that started the clinical trial on February 27.

The mass production will start with a capacity of 1 million doses per month, after the third phase of the clinical study with at least 20,000 volunteers.

Iran has also successfully completed the first phase of the human trial for Fakhra vaccine, the third domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, named after nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (he was assassinated in November 2020 near Tehran), that was unveiled and started the clinical trial on March 16.

The second phase of Fakhra vaccine’s human trial started on June 9 by being injected into 500 volunteers

“Osvid-19”, the fourth domestic vaccine produced by Osvah Pharmaceutical Company is also undergoing human trials, which will also be available in early September.

On May 24, the first coronavirus vaccine made by the private sector in Iran succeeded in receiving the code of ethics and entered the phase of clinical studies.

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The drugs giant also said it has already taken orders for at least 400 million doses of the coronavirus jab it is developing with the university.

It intends to negotiate further deals on the capacity to “ensure the delivery of a globally accessible vaccine”.

Results from an early-stage clinical trial in southern England are expected shortly, it said, Sky News reported.

If those are successful, other trials will follow in a number of countries.

It was announced earlier this week that plans are in place to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine to 30 million people in the UK by September if trials are successful.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said: “We need to defeat the virus together or it will continue to inflict huge personal suffering and leave long-lasting economic and social scars in every country around the world.

“We are so proud to be collaborating with Oxford University to turn their ground-breaking work into a medicine that can be produced on a global scale.

“We would like to thank the US and UK governments for their substantial support to accelerate the development and production of the vaccine.

“We will do everything in our power to make this vaccine quickly and widely available.”

The multinational pharmaceutical company added that it had received more than $1bn (£820m) from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for the development, production, and delivery of a vaccine, starting in the autumn.

“The development program includes a Phase III clinical trial with 30,000 participants and a pediatric trial,” it said.

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