The University of Oxford received £143 million in royalties from its Covid vaccine in the past academic year – more than all UK universities earned from intellectual property (IP) over the preceding 12 months, new figures show.
Oxford’s Covid jab, which was created, tested and trialled with AstraZeneca in less than a year, was estimated to have saved 6.3 million lives globally in its first year, with more than 2.6 billion doses distributed in 183 countries by March 2022.
But the vaccine also represents a significant revenue stream for Oxford. According to the university’s newly released 2021-22 accounts, it received £143.1 million from the sale of vaccines to developed countries – a sum that surpasses the £133.6 million received by UK universities from IP income in 2020-21, of which Oxford took almost half (£63.3 million), according to Higher Education Statistics Agency data.
