Siam Bioscience reports record profit after COVID vaccine deal with AstraZeneca
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Bangkok: Thai drugmaker Siam Bioscience, owned by the country's king, reported a near 50-fold increase in annual profit in 2021, when it began producing AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine, government data shows.
The company is part of King Maha Vajiralongkorn's vast fortune, which includes land and property estimated at between $30 billion and $60 billion.
Founded in 2009 by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej to produce biopharmaceuticals and improve public health, the company had since been loss-making and reported its first profit only in 2020 of 35.7 million baht ($995,000).
Its business improved sharply last year, as it began manufacturing vaccines for the first time.
Profit soared a whopping 4,650% to 1.69 billion baht and revenues increased by 1,500% to a record 4.9 billion baht, aided by its contract to manufacture 200 million doses of the Anglo-Swedish firm's COVID-19 vaccine.
The deal came under fire from a prominent Thai opposition politician who questioned why the contract went to a company that was owned by the king and had never made vaccines before.
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