According to reports by The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times on November 10, AstraZeneca's global CEO, Pascal Soriot, said in a conference call on Thursday local time that the company has abandoned its application for regulatory approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.
Soriot pointed out that due to the decline in demand for COVID-19 vaccines in the United States and sufficient supply, AstraZeneca has decided to refocus its regulatory team on areas with greater unmet medical needs.
AstraZeneca reported $173 million in revenue from its Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccine in the third quarter, compared with $1.05 billion a year earlier. Pascal Soriot said that since its launch, AstraZeneca has sold approximately 3 billion doses of the Vaxzevria vaccine.
Driven by factors such as a sharp increase in anti-cancer drug sales, AstraZeneca's revenue grew 11% year-on-year to nearly $11 billion in the third quarter of this year; net profit was $1.64 billion, compared to a post-tax loss of $1.65 billion in the same period last year.