DUBAI: AstraZeneca is creating a separate division for vaccines and antibody therapies, the drugmaker said on Tuesday, to focus on its COVID-19 shot and the development of coronavirus treatments after a series of setbacks during the pandemic.
Reuters reported in July that the Anglo-Swedish company was exploring options for its vaccine business and expected to have greater clarity on the matter by the end of 2021.
The new division, which will be led by executive vice president of Europe and Canada, Iskra Reic, will combine research and development, manufacturing, commercial and medical teams, a company spokesperson said.
“The team will be dedicated to our COVID-19 vaccine, our long-acting antibody combination and our developmental vaccine addressing multiple variants of concern, as well as to our existing portfolio for respiratory viral disease,” the spokesperson said.
The decision to set up a new business comes after a tumultuous 18 months for the drugmaker, which developed its COVID-19 vaccine in conjunction with Oxford University.
Production problems forced the company to cut deliveries to the European Union this year, prompting the bloc to launch a legal challenge. Governments have also restricted its use among certain age groups due to links to rare blood clots and its application for US approval is taking longer than expected.
But positive results from trials of its antibody cocktail as a preventative shot against COVID-19 have given the company a major boost, potentially positioning it as a supplier of both COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
The creation of the separate vaccines division was first reported by the Financial Times.
The move indicates AstraZeneca sees a future for its COVID-19 shot beyond the pandemic but shouldn’t be taken as a sign it is planning a full-scale entry into the broader vaccine market, Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Nicholas Hyett said.
“That would require significant new research and development investment, and as yet we have no indication that this is forthcoming,” he said.
AstraZeneca has pledged to supply vaccines at cost during the pandemic. The not-for-profit strategy and challenges with the shot fueled speculation about whether it would want to keep the business in the long term.
While AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine remained a drag on profits in the second quarter, sales of the shot more than tripled to $894 million from the first three months of the year, making it one of the company’s best-selling products.
AstraZeneca is due to report third-quarter results on Friday.
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AstraZeneca to set up division for vaccines and antibody therapies
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AstraZeneca to set up division for vaccines and antibody therapies
- The new division will combine research and development, manufacturing, commercial and medical teams
- The decision to set up a new business comes after a tumultuous 18 months for the drugmaker
Trump to launch Board of Peace that some fear rivals UN
- US president sees board as going beyond Gaza to address global challenges
- 35 countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye have committed; Russia considering
DAVOS, Switzerland: US President Donald Trump will on Thursday launch his Board of Peace, originally envisaged to help end the Gaza war but which he now sees having a wider role that Europe and some others fear will rival or undermine the United Nations.
Trump, who will chair the board, has invited dozens of other world leaders to join it and sees the grouping addressing other global challenges beyond Gaza, though he does not intend it as a replacement for the United Nations, he has said.
Some traditional US allies have balked at joining the board, which Trump says permanent members must help fund with a payment of $1 billion each, either responding cautiously or declining the invitation.
No other permanent member of the UN Security Council — the five nations with the most say over international law since the end of World War Two — except the US has yet committed to join.
Russia said late on Wednesday it was studying the proposal after Trump said it would join. France has declined. Britain said on Thursday it was not joining at present. China has not yet said whether it will join.
However, around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkiye and Belarus.
The signing ceremony will be held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum bringing together global political and business leaders is taking place.
Sputtering Gaza ceasefire
The board’s charter will task it with promoting peace around the world, a copy seen by Reuters showed, and Trump has already named other senior US officials to join it, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The ceasefire in Gaza, agreed in October, has sputtered for months with Israel and Hamas trading blame for repeated bursts of violence in which several Israeli soldiers and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed.
Both sides accuse each other of further violations, with Israel saying Hamas has procrastinated on returning a final body of a dead hostage and Hamas saying Israel has continued to curb aid into Gaza despite an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
Each side rejects the other’s accusations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation by Trump to join the board, the Israeli leader’s office says. Palestinian factions have endorsed Trump’s plan and given backing to a transitional Palestinian committee meant to administer the Gaza Strip with oversight by the board.
Trump has been characteristically bold in his comments on Gaza, saying the ceasefire amounts to “peace in the Middle East.”
Even as the first phase of the truce stumbles, its next stage must address much tougher long-term issues that have bedeviled earlier negotiations, including Hamas disarmament, security control in Gaza and eventual Israeli withdrawal.
On Wednesday in Davos, Trump met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, whose country played a major role in Gaza truce mediation talks, and they discussed the board.
Trump, who will chair the board, has invited dozens of other world leaders to join it and sees the grouping addressing other global challenges beyond Gaza, though he does not intend it as a replacement for the United Nations, he has said.
Some traditional US allies have balked at joining the board, which Trump says permanent members must help fund with a payment of $1 billion each, either responding cautiously or declining the invitation.
No other permanent member of the UN Security Council — the five nations with the most say over international law since the end of World War Two — except the US has yet committed to join.
Russia said late on Wednesday it was studying the proposal after Trump said it would join. France has declined. Britain said on Thursday it was not joining at present. China has not yet said whether it will join.
However, around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkiye and Belarus.
The signing ceremony will be held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum bringing together global political and business leaders is taking place.
Sputtering Gaza ceasefire
The board’s charter will task it with promoting peace around the world, a copy seen by Reuters showed, and Trump has already named other senior US officials to join it, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The ceasefire in Gaza, agreed in October, has sputtered for months with Israel and Hamas trading blame for repeated bursts of violence in which several Israeli soldiers and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed.
Both sides accuse each other of further violations, with Israel saying Hamas has procrastinated on returning a final body of a dead hostage and Hamas saying Israel has continued to curb aid into Gaza despite an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
Each side rejects the other’s accusations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation by Trump to join the board, the Israeli leader’s office says. Palestinian factions have endorsed Trump’s plan and given backing to a transitional Palestinian committee meant to administer the Gaza Strip with oversight by the board.
Trump has been characteristically bold in his comments on Gaza, saying the ceasefire amounts to “peace in the Middle East.”
Even as the first phase of the truce stumbles, its next stage must address much tougher long-term issues that have bedeviled earlier negotiations, including Hamas disarmament, security control in Gaza and eventual Israeli withdrawal.
On Wednesday in Davos, Trump met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, whose country played a major role in Gaza truce mediation talks, and they discussed the board.
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