AstraZeneca sees $4B in COVID vaccine sales as revenue soars

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said in November it would begin to take a "modest" profit from the COVID-19 shot, which it had been providing "at cost" - around $2 to $3 -following an agreement with Oxford. Other COVID-19 vaccine producers, such as Pfizer and Moderna, have been booking hefty profits on their shots all along.

In the three months to September, the company said revenue jumped by about 50%, to a record $9.9 billion. The increase was due to sales of more than $1 billion in COVID-19 vaccines and the inclusion for the first time of some $1.3 billion worth of revenue from its rare disease business unit following the recent acquisition of Alexion.

AstraZeneca forecast total group sales to rise by a "high teens percentage" in 2022, but said COVID-19 revenues would decline by a "a low-to-mid twenties percentage."

Chief executive Pascal Soriot said AstraZeneca had "delivered on our promise of broad and equitable access to our COVID-19 vaccine with 2.5 billion doses released for supply around the world."

"AstraZeneca continued on its strong growth trajectory in 2021, with industry-leading R&D (research and development) productivity, five of our medicines crossing new blockbuster thresholds, and the acquisition and integration of Alexion," he said.

Soriot said the company would raise the dividend to shareholders by 10 cents to $2.90, the first increase in a decade.