AstraZeneca quits Swiss application on jab

Swedish-British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has withdrawn its application for approval of its coronavirus vaccine in Switzerland after Swiss authorities indicated it would only be cleared for use in people aged 50 and older.

AstraZeneca filed its application to Swissmedic in October 2020, the company said on Thursday.

There has been regular contact between the company and the regulators since.

Swissmedic had repeatedly said that it was lacking sufficient data to approve the drug for broad use.

The country originally ordered 5.3 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine but has passed on 440,000 of those to a group of five developing countries while the wait for approval dragged on.