AstraZeneca forecast higher 2022 sales and lifted its annual dividend for the first time in a decade after record revenues last year, but warned the boost from its Covid-19 products would decline.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it made almost $4bn (£2.9bn) last year from the Covid jab it developed with Oxford University. It moved away from its not-for-profit pricing in November, when it signed new contracts in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. The shot, called Vaxzevria, has not yet been approved by the US regulator.
Sir John Bell, the Oxford professor who worked on the jab, this week accused scientists and politicians of damaging the reputation of the vaccine, potentially costing hundreds of thousands of lives. Billed as the vaccine to deliver the world from Covid, it became a political football last year when AstraZeneca faced accusations over its efficacy, supply and side-effects.
Asked on Thursday whether the company could have managed the process better, the chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said he had no regrets. “It’s really hard to regret anything when you have delivered 2.6bn doses of the vaccine and you have saved 1 million lives around the world and of course enabled the economies in many countries to restart.” Together with the Chinese vaccines, the AstraZeneca shot is the most widely used in the world.
The drugmaker’s total revenues increased by 41% to a record $37.4bn last year, boosted by cancer drugs. In the final quarter, sales rose 62% to $12bn, a quarterly record. AstraZeneca raised its dividend for the first time in 10 years, paying out $2.87 per share for 2021, with plans to pay $2.90 in future years.
Soriot said the company would reach its target of $40bn sales, outlined in 2014 when it fended off a hostile takeover attempt from Pfizer, in 2022, a year earlier than expected. It is now expecting a high-teens percentage increase in revenues and a mid- to high-twenties percentage increase in core earnings per share.
Despite the jump in sales, the drugmaker made an annual loss before tax of $265m, compared with a profit of $3.9bn the year before, after spending more on product launches, research and development, and the acquisition of the rare diseases specialist Alexion. Its research spending rose by 62% to $9.7bn.
AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is far cheaper than those made by its US rivals Pfizer and Moderna. Pfizer raked in almost $37bn from the jab it developed with Germany’s BioNTech last year, prompting accusations of “pandemic profiteering” from campaigners.
Soriot said the company was still offering affordable and tiered pricing for Vaxzevria to lower-income countries. Sales from the vaccine are expected to decline this year, partially offset by growth in sales from its new Covid-19 drug, Evusheld. Evusheld, an antibody treatment for immunocompromised people who can’t be vaccinated received, emergency use authorisation in the US and France in early December.
Since taking the helm almost a decade ago, Soriot has successfully rebuilt AstraZeneca’s drugs pipeline. Among its 13 blockbuster medicines – those generating more than $1bn in a sales a year – several have become multibillion-pound sellers, including the lung cancer drug Tagrisso, the ovarian cancer drug Lynparza and the diabetes and heart drug Farxiga.
He also pulled off the company’s largest ever deal, buying Alexion for $39bn, which completed in mid-July. Analysts say it should underpin future growth, along with recent drugs pipeline successes. Rare diseases medicines contributed $3.1bn of revenues last year.
