(Reuters) – AstraZeneca could start profiting from its COVID-19 vaccine as soon as July next year, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing a memo showing the British drugmaker can declare when it considers the pandemic to have ended.
The London-listed firm previously said it would not profit from the vaccine “during the pandemic”, and the report attributes the development to a memorandum of understanding signed this year between AstraZeneca and Brazilian public health organization, Fiocruz. (https://on.ft.com/3lgC0Xo)
AstraZeneca, which developed the vaccine with Oxford University, signed multiple supply-and-manufacture deals for more than 3 billion doses globally, although details on the terms have been scant.
According to FT, the “Pandemic Period” could be further extended beyond July 1, 2021, but only if Cambridge, England-based AstraZeneca “acting in good faith considers that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not over.”
AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Pricing and supply of experimental COVID-19 vaccines have been widely debated as richer countries pump billions of dollars into funding, and AstraZeneca has also been granted protection from future liability claims.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Ramakrishnan M.)
