UK-Sweden pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said revenue from the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to decline by up to a quarter this year due to lower product demand.
The company, which announced its first-quarter 2022 results, said sales of the Vaxzevria (more commonly known as the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine) are expected to decline later this year.
“Gross revenue from COVID-19 medicines is expected to decline at a rate of early to mid-twenties,” the company said on April 29, predicting that most of Vaxzevria’s revenue in 2022 will come from initial contracts. I added that it has been done.
Global sales of vaccines increased nearly fourfold in the first quarter of this year to over $ 1.1 billion compared to the same period 12 months ago.
In Europe, vaccine sales fell by 40% over the same period, the business said.
However, the decline in sales of Vaxzevria will be partially offset by Evusheld, a COVID-19 treatment approved last month for use in the United Kingdom in patients with poor immune responses.
The company’s overall revenue increased 60% in the first three months of the year to $ 11.4 billion, just under $ 500 million above analysts’ expectations.
This is because CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus infection rates continue to decline in most parts of the United Kingdom.
England, Scotland and Wales have all recorded a decline in infections, but Northern Ireland’s trend is “uncertain”, according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on April 29.
It is estimated that 2.9 million individual households were infected with the CCP virus during the week ending April 23, down from 3.8 million last week.
The numbers confirm that the COVID-19 surge caused by the highly contagious Omicron BA.2 mutant is now receding, but the prevalence of the virus is high by historical standards. is.
This figure is due to the fact that the number of hospitalized patients infected with COVID-19 in the UK is also clearly on the decline, peaking at about the same level as it was reached during the first Omicron surge in January.
England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have abolished all legal COVID-19 restrictions.
Wales has lifted most restrictions, including mask obligations in public places, but mask obligations in the medical setting are valid for another week.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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