AstraZeneca’s pledge to poorer nations as it seeks COVID jab profits from next year
The chief executive of AstraZeneca (AZ) has told Sky News that the company’s decision to begin seeking a modest profit from its COVID vaccine is unlikely to kick in until next year.
Pascal Soriot said this was because it still had many doses of the vaccine to supply that it had promised to do so at cost.
AZ announced earlier this month that it would be seeking to achieve a modest profit in future from the vaccine In order to fund its new anti-viral COVID treatment.
But Mr Soriot stressed that, while some countries would be charged above cost for the vaccine, many more would not.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been sold at cost since it first became available Pic: AP
He said: “You have to remember that the orders we are taking today will be delivered next year. We still have a lot of orders at no profit to deliver. So they will be delivered next year.
“So you have got to think of the infection as if you were already in next year. And so essentially most of the world at that point will be in a different phase. And we will be more in a regional epidemic or regional pandemic than a global pandemic.
“But you know, we will of course adapt to every circumstance and countries that have low purchasing power we will be supplied at no profit or very low price and others will be a bit more.”
Mr Soriot insisted that he had no regrets that AZ had provided the vaccine at cost even though some of its competitors, such as Pfizer and Moderna, have supercharged their profits through charges for their COVID vaccines.
He went on: “We always knew that some vaccines would be sold at a profit and we made the decision from day one that we would partner with Oxford and deliver this vaccine around the world at no profit so everybody could access it much as possible.
Vials of COVID vaccines made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, and Sputnik V
“And again, we’ve delivered more than 2 billion doses, 30% of global supply so far, so it really has worked quite well actually. So we always knew that it was what we were going to do. So there is no surprise, so there can’t be any regret – it was our plan all along.”
He was speaking as AZ, the largest company in the FTSE 100, formally unveils The Discovery Centre, its new £1bn research and development facility in Cambridge, which will be home to some 2,200 scientists.
The centre, to be opened by the Prince of Wales today, represents the biggest single investment ever made by AZ.
It has been specifically sited in Cambridge to be at the heart of the city’s life sciences cluster, within close proximity to the Royal Papworth and Addenbrookes hospitals, Cancer Research UK and the University of Cambridge’s school of clinical medicine.
The site is referred to in scientific circles as the ‘Nobel factory’ as it has created more Nobel Prize winners than anywhere else in the world.
Mr Soriot said AZ spent around $7bn (£5.3bn) on research and development annually – of which “a large proportion”, close to one third, is deployed in the UK.
He added: “it’s a very substantial investment we make each year.”
The opening comes at a hugely busy time for AZ which, earlier this year, completed the $39bn takeover of the rare diseases specialist Alexion.
That took the company, traditionally better known in the industry for its treatments for cancers, heart and respiratory conditions, into a fourth therapy area – and now it has decided, based on the success of its COVID vaccine roll out, to expand into a fifth, vaccines, as well.
However, asked whether AZ was trying to do too much at once, Mr Soriot insisted this was not the case.
He added: “We have great strengths in oncology and we believe we can be one of the three great companies in the world in oncology and maybe even better than that by 2025.
“We continue to do very well in cardiovascular and bio pharmaceuticals overall and now we have rare diseases and vaccines.
“What we call the vaccine and immunotherapy unit is really looking at is managing this portfolio of products to treat or vaccinate people with viral diseases.
“We want to maximise the value of these assets and manage them better.
“Now whether we invest in the long run in this field remains to be seen, but there’s a lot of synergies across this portfolio of products.”
Mr Soriot pointed out that AZ had just achieved its first quarter during which it had notched up $10bn worth of sales.
It is a significant milestone because, when Mr Soriot oversaw AZ’s successful defence against an unwanted takeover approach from Pfizer in 2014, he promised investors that AZ would be delivering annual sales of $40bn a year by 2023.
Cineworld’s hedge fund backers are drawing up plans to return the cinema operator to the public markets amid continuing uncertainty about the future of dozens of its British sites.
Sky News has learnt that the company’s owners are at the early stages of considering a New York listing for the business, with the first half of 2026 considered a likely window for it to take place.
City insiders said that a flotation was likely to encompass Cineworld’s operations outside the UK, with the group’s board expected to consider a sale of the British operations at some point.
They cautioned, however, that no decisions had been reached and would not be for some time.
The fate of Cineworld’s business in the UK has been mired in uncertainty for months, with the company initially exploring a sale of it before turning to a restructuring plan which compromises many of its landlords and other creditors.
It has announced the permanent closure of six sites, but it emerged last month that nearly 20 more were at risk of being shut amid ongoing talks with property owners.
The restructuring plan is due to complete later this month, which some landlords have opposed over the fairness of its terms.
Documents circulated as part of the restructuring plan process highlighted the fact that the company did not have sufficient funding to meet a quarterly rent bill on June 24 of £15.9m.
“Absent this funding, the UK Group would have been insolvent on a cashflow basis,” they said.
Other cinema operators, such as Odeon, are now poised to step in to take over small numbers of Cineworld’s other sites.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The company trades from more than 100 locations in Britain, including at the Picturehouse chain, and employs thousands of people.
Cineworld grew under the leadership of the Greidinger family into a global giant of the industry, acquiring chains including Regal in the US in 2018 and the British company of the same name four years earlier.
Read more:
Pizza Hut UK hunts buyer amid budget tax crisis
Former Tory minister eyes top job at football regulator
Its multibillion-dollar debt mountain led it into crisis, though, and forced the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2022.
It delisted from the London Stock Exchange in August 2023, having seen its share price collapse.
In addition to the UK, Cineworld also operates in central and Eastern Europe, Israel and the US.
Cineworld has been contacted for comment.
A former Conservative cabinet minister has thrown his hat into the ring to become the inaugural chair of Britain’s new independent football regulator.
Sky News has learnt that Chris Heaton-Harris, who stood down as an MP at July’s general election, is among those who applied for the role ahead of a deadline on Friday.
Mr Heaton-Harris is himself a qualified football referee who has officiated at matches for decades.
A former Northern Ireland secretary and chief whip under Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson respectively, he said in 2022 of his part-time career as a football official: “I took a [refereeing] course and that was it, I’ve been going ever since.
“Football has done wonders for me throughout my life so I would recommend it to everybody.”
Mr Heaton-Harris is among a large number of people who have applied for the role of chair at the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), according to officials.
A publicly available timetable for the search says that interviews for the £130,000-a-year post will end on 11 December, with an appointment expected in the new year.
It is the second time that the government has embarked on a search for a chair for the IFR after an earlier hunt was curtailed by the general election.
The role will be based at the watchdog’s new headquarters in Manchester and will require a three-day-a-week commitment.
The Football Governance Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords this week, as part of a process that will represent the most fundamental shake-up in the oversight of English football in the game’s history.
The Labour administration has dropped a previous stipulation that the regulator should have regard to British foreign and trade policy when determining the appropriateness of a new club owner.
The IFR will monitor clubs’ adherence to rules requiring them to listen to fans’ views on issues including ticket pricing, while it may also have oversight of the parachute payments made to clubs in the years after their relegation from the Premier League.
The top flight has issued a statement expressing reservations about the regulator’s remit, while it has been broadly welcomed by the English Football League.
The IFR’s creation will come with the Premier League embroiled in a civil war over Manchester City‘s legal battles emanating from allegations that it breached the competition’s financial rules.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Next week, the 20 Premier League clubs will meet for a lengthy shareholder meeting, with a vote on amended Associated Party Transaction rules hanging in the balance.
The league needs 14 clubs to vote in favour for the rule changes to be passed.
Contrary to earlier expectations, however, a detailed discussion on a financial distribution agreement between the Premier League and EFL is unlikely to be on the agenda.
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said: “The process for recruiting the Independent Football Regulator chair is under way but no appointment decisions have been made.
“We do not comment on speculation.”
This weekend, Mr Heaton-Harris could not be reached for comment.
Pizza Hut’s biggest UK franchisee has begun approaching potential bidders as it scrambles to mitigate the looming impact of tax hikes announced in last month’s Budget.
Sky News has learnt that Heart With Smart (HWS), which operates roughly 140 Pizza Hut dine-in restaurants, has instructed advisers to find a buyer or raise tens of millions of pounds in external funding.
City sources said this weekend that the process, which is being handled by Interpath Advisory, had got under way in recent days and was expected to result in a transaction taking place in the next few months.
HWS, which was previously called Pizza Hut Restaurants, employs about 3,000 people, making it one of the most significant businesses in Britain’s casual dining industry.
It is owned by a combination of Pricoa and the company’s management, led by chief executive Jens Hofma.
They led a management buyout reportedly worth £100m in 2018, with the business having previously owned by Rutland Partners, a private equity firm.
One source suggested that as well as the talks with external third parties, it remained possible that a financing solution could be reached with its existing backers.
HWS licenses the Pizza Hut name from Yum! Brands, the American food giant which also owns KFC.
Insiders suggested that the increases to the national living wage and employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) unveiled by Rachel Reeves would add approximately £4m to HWS’s annual costs – equivalent to more than half of last year’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
One added that the Pizza Hut restaurants’ operation needed additional funding to mitigate the impact of the Budget and put the business on a sustainable financial footing.
The consequences of a failure to find a buyer or new investment were unclear on Saturday, although the emergence of the process comes amid increasingly bleak warnings from across the hospitality industry.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Last weekend, Sky News revealed that a letter co-ordinated by the trade body UK Hospitality and signed by scores of industry chiefs – including Mr Hofma – told the chancellor that left unaddressed, her Budget tax hikes would result in job losses and business closures within a year.
It also said that the scope for pubs and restaurants to pass on the tax rises in the form of higher prices was limited because of weaker consumer spending power.
That was followed by a similar letter drafted by the British Retail Consortium this week which also warned of rising unemployment across the industry, underlining the Budget backlash from large swathes of the UK economy.
Even before the Budget, hospitality operators were feeling significant pressure, with TGI Fridays collapsing into administration before being sold to a consortium of Breal Capital and Calveton.
Sky News recently revealed that Pizza Express had hired investment bankers to advise on a debt refinancing.
HWS operates all of Pizza Hut’s dine-in restaurants in Britain, but has no involvement with its large number of delivery outlets, which are run by individual franchisees.
Accounts filed at Companies House for HWS4 for the period from 5 December 2022 to 3 December 2023 show that it completed a restructuring of its debt under which its lenders agreed to suspend repayments of some of its borrowings until November next year.
The terms of the same facilities were also extended to September 2027, while it also signed a new 10-year Pizza Hut franchise agreement with Yum Brands which expires in 2032.
“Whilst market conditions have improved noticeably since 2022, consumers remain challenged by higher-than-average levels of inflation, high mortgage costs and slow growth in the economy,” the accounts said.
It added: “The costs of business remain challenging.”
Pizza Hut opened its first UK restaurant in the early 1970s and expanded rapidly over the following 15 years.
In 2020, the company announced that it was closing dozens of restaurants, with the loss of hundreds of jobs, through a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).
At that time, it operated more than 240 sites across the UK.
Mr Hofma and Interpath both declined to comment.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway