AstraZeneca encouraged by rise in sales and profits despite pandemic disruption

AstraZeneca has delivered a rise in product sales and profits in the year to date despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, its latest results show.

The biopharmaceutical firm, which is expected to begin moving into its new R&D Centre and global headquarters on Cambridge Biomedical Campus from May 2021, has seen its total revenue grow to $19,207million this year, up 10 per cent on a constant exchange rate basis (CER). In the third quarter, the top line rose three per cent.

Product sales of $18,879m were propelled by new medicines, which represented 52 per cent of total revenues. New medicine sales were up 36 per cent on a CER basis and did particularly well in emerging markets, growing 68 per cent.

The company is expecting to report late-stage trial data on the Covid-19 vaccine it is working on with Oxford University by the end of the year.

CEO Pascal Soriot said: “We made encouraging headway in the quarter, despite the ongoing disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic. Highlights of the sales performance included further success in oncology and an acceleration in the progress of Farxiga.

“Our pipeline also excelled, with Farxiga expanding its potential beyond diabetes and heart failure with ground-breaking new data in chronic kidney disease, while regulatory submission acceptance was achieved for anifrolumab in lupus.

“In the fight against Covid-19, we advanced our vaccine collaboration with the University of Oxford and are launching Phase III trials for our long-acting antibody combination for the prophylaxis and treatment against Covid-19 for people who need an immediate defence or whose weaker immune systems mean they are less likely to benefit from a vaccine.

“We continue to progress in line with our expectations and maintain our full-year guidance, which is underpinned by the strategy of sustainable growth through innovation.”

Meanwhile, news of positive results from the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine trial - which indicates it was 90 per cent effective - has also encouraged AstraZeneca as it continues work on its vaccine candidate with Oxford.

Speaking at a Financial Times online conference on healthcare on Monday, AstraZeneca senior executive team member, Ruud Dobber said: “What we have seen in Phase I and Phase II - whether it is Pfizer or AstraZeneca with our Oxford vaccine - is that if you are able to generate neutralising antibodies and a good T-cell response that you can make the virus less hostile.

“The efficacy shown earlier today is incredibly promising and I really hope that more vaccine producers will showcase more or less the same results sooner rather than later.”

In the last week AstraZeneca has also announced:

• Calquence (acalabrutinib) has been approved in the EU for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia;
• Positive results front the NAVIGATOR Phase III trial with Amgen for the potential new medicine tezepelumab in patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma;
• Brilinta has been approved in the US to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with an acute ischaemic stroke or high-risk transient ischaemic attack;
• Lynparza has been approved in the EU as first-line maintenance treatment with bevacizumab for HRD-positive advanced ovarian cancer and for the treatment of BRCA-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer; and
• Forxiga (dapagliflozin) has been approved in the EU for the treatment of symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in adults with and without type-2 diabetes.

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