Astrazeneca Share Discussion Threads

[philanderer] 20/9/2021 15:19

AZN best one of my lot by a mile today.

[bluemango] 20/9/2021 15:15

Yanks like the news.

[arja] 20/9/2021 14:19

few stocks in positive territory on this bloodbath day and market must think the cancer news was significant

[bluemango] 19/9/2021 13:27

You're welcome.

From your Times article:

“It’s a special moment to be able to see the data and to be able to know that as of Monday, it can transform the discussions that physicians are going to have with their patients,” Fredrickson said.

[hotfinance14] 19/9/2021 12:58

Thanks for the tip.

[bluemango] 19/9/2021 11:51

Another version of the breast cancer story:



(hotfinance14 #4942 - you need to drop the 'www' and change the http to hTTp to post a link)

[williamcooper104] 19/9/2021 11:48

It's not going to rocket like SBRY a few weeks ago when the Sunday times reported Apollo's interest But surely it's likely to have a good bounce on the open - even if it's not super material on revenues it's got to be helpful on validating the wider equity story

[riskonricky] 19/9/2021 11:31

I admire your enthusiasm, but based on what? The whole her2 inhibitor market is $5-6Billion. AZN is a £125 billon company. How on earth would this news make it rocket? And where would it rocket to?

[hotfinance14] 19/9/2021 09:42

Thus will rocket on Monday :

A study into a new drug for advanced breast cancer is “shattering expectations”, according to Astra Zeneca’s oncology chief, raising the prospect of a new blockbuster medicine.

hxxps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/az-set-for-billions-from-cancer-cure-vzz8mq3ww

[umitw] 14/9/2021 12:42

I wonder why sajid decided to have Moderna & Pfizer as a bossier not AZN..?

[montyhedge] 14/9/2021 08:42

My forecast target 6975p, if 8000p level gets broken.

[hjs] 10/9/2021 11:41

AZN has gone down as a result of their "Vaccine Booster" statement. Market will always react to any news to mark the share price up or down! this is my view.

[gateside] 09/9/2021 13:30

This should certainly be over 10000p at least.

[philanderer] 09/9/2021 10:59

SOCGEN RAISES ASTRAZENECA PRICE TARGET TO 15,000 (12,000) PENCE - 'BUY'

[thaiger] 03/9/2021 16:44

With the disputed sorted share price should be up not down!!??

[stutes] 03/9/2021 15:42

Today's deal with EU shows to me AZN sorted the mess out but the company itself needs to address the reasons why it messed up.

[maxk] 24/8/2021 20:53

Never, ever, do someone a good turn. It always backfires!





Doubts grow over the future of AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine

Government deal to buy 35m doses of Pfizer booster shots to be delivered next year adds to clouds over the Oxford-AZ jab

By
Hannah Boland
24 August 2021 • 6:29pm




Britain may be about to start its Covid booster jab roll-out, but already the wheels are in motion for next year's vaccine blitz. This week, ministers announced they had struck a deal for 35m Pfizer booster shots to be delivered in the second half of 2022.

"While we continue to build this wall of defence from Covid-19, it's also vital we do everything we can to protect the country for the future too – whether that's from the virus as we know it or new variants," Sajid Javid, Health Secretary, said.

Among the scientific community, news of the order raised some eyebrows. By last week, Britain already had more than 500m jab doses on order with eight vaccine makers. Of the vaccines which had been approved here, the UK had ordered more than 210m doses.

"I find it all a little bit disturbing," said Clive Dix, the former interim chair of the vaccine taskforce. "I think it's crazy we're going down that route [to buy doses for 2022] already." In his view, decisions over boosting seem to be rushed.

"I would personally just say let's boost with the AstraZeneca vaccine this year, which we have available and which is a very good vaccine - and only then should we start thinking about next year."

Still, while he sees AstraZeneca's vaccine as among the best, he says it is hard to ignore its "tarnished reputation" - centred around concerns over the few cases of blood clots associated with the jab. A study recently suggested rates of clots were "similar" with Pfizer's vaccine.

"It's so sad that both as a British company and one of the front-running companies with vaccines, it seems to have this reputation," Dix shrugs. "It rolled up its sleeves and did something really important."

News of the latest deal suggests the UK may now be envisaging a reduced role for AstraZeneca in the next vaccine booster rollout.

Already, across Europe, its use has been dwindling. In the UK, where initially ministers spoke of wanting to "lead the world in developing a coronavirus vaccine" and "backing our scientists to the hilt in doing so", now more than a year later, few AstraZeneca jabs are being given.

Between July 21 and August 11, only 700,000 AstraZeneca vaccines were administered across the UK - driven by the fact it is only advised for those over 40, many of whom had already been vaccinated. During that same period, 3.2m Pfizer doses were given.

The slowdown in the UK’s use of the jab meant AstraZeneca was able to start sending doses produced in an Oxford vaccine factory, previously the subject of a bitter supply row with the EU, over to the Continent. There, Pfizer and Moderna jabs are used more widely.

All this has sparked questions over what the future holds for AstraZeneca in vaccines. Before the pandemic hit, the company had little to do with vaccines, with Merck, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline clear leaders in the field.

AstraZeneca's chief executive, Pascal Soriot, has said the "goal initially was really to come in and help". He added: "That was it. And so one option for us was to come in and help, deliver this vaccine, and then go back to our core business."

Still, this shift back to the core business has not been guaranteed. While one executive suggested last month that the company could spin off the vaccine work, AstraZeneca bosses have been clear that decisions have yet to be made. In May, Soriot said the firm had not "decided, really, what we’re going to do long-term with vaccines".

Among some shareholders, pressure has been mounting for the firm to exit the space. Analysts say the Covid-19 vaccine is seen by some as a distraction for a company which could instead be doubling down on its cancer work.

What's more, AstraZeneca has a huge task ahead of it in integrating immunology giant Alexion, which it bought for $39bn (£28bn) late last year - no mean feat for a firm whose own market cap stands at £132bn.

But support for an exit is not universal. Ketan Patel, a fund manager at AstraZeneca shareholder EdenTree Investment Management, says the company cannot pull out - and in fact, should not. "The assumption is that because the UK, Europe and the US are vaccinated, the world goes back to normal now, but we need the rest of the world to get vaccinated."


It is in this area that AstraZeneca is already playing a leading role. As of earlier this month, AstraZeneca had delivered 91m doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the Covax scheme, which distributes vaccines to developing countries, equal to around two thirds of the total amount of jabs given to the project.

"They're playing a key role in vaccinating the rest of the world. And of course, the assumption is that Covid is just one illness, one strain, but there's more strains coming through, so I think this could be a step for AstraZeneca in actually developing a vaccine division, like Roche and GlaxoSmithKline," Patel says.

Such a move would take more effort than it may initially seem. While AstraZeneca has helped to make and distribute the vaccine, it does not own the platform behind the AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid vaccine.

AstraZeneca itself also does not have the significant vaccine manufacturing operations required to scale up this work.

Adam Barker, an analyst at Shore, says building the business is something "it couldn't really do on the cheap".

It may also not be something AstraZeneca would want to do, given that its jab uses different technology to others. "I would say that a lot of focus has shifted to mRNA vaccines," Barker says, referring to jabs such as Pfizer's which essentially tell the body how to make the Covid spike protein which then allows it to react to that spike protein by making antibodies. AstraZeneca's is a more traditional-style vaccine.

"I think a lot of work will be going towards the mRNA types of vaccines, which theoretically could be updated quicker to variants," Barker says.

Still, experts say we should not write off AstraZeneca's work too early. Sir John Bell, the Oxford vaccine tsar, said data based on the disease appeared to show that Pfizer's durability declines steadily but rapidly, whereas AstraZeneca's does so much less quickly. "The immunity should be longer and more durable," he explains.

The recent order with Pfizer does not mean use of the AstraZeneca Covid jab will end in Britain. The Government "will be over-purchasing because no one knows where this goes next," Sir John says. "As we know, they won’t necessarily use it."

With an ever-ballooning jab stockpile, it appears Britain's plans on how it can "keep the nation safe for years to come" may simply involve buying big and seeing what happens - and AstraZeneca may still play a significant part.

[williamcooper104] 20/8/2021 18:48

See this a lot - usually they post a proper peer reviewed article and say it says something it clearly doesn't

[festario] 20/8/2021 18:29

What? That article refers to those who recovered from Covid, but were treated with Remdesivir or Steroids.Nothing to do with vaccines?

[aidenabettin] 20/8/2021 11:12

Experts state that there is a decrease of blood supply to the bones and that eventually leads to bone death.Covid-19 vaccines altering red blood cells?.Beginning to look like it

[aidenabettin] 20/8/2021 11:11

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/060821/patients-develop-bone-issues-post-covid-19.html