AstraZeneca sees cancer drug sales rise by 20%

AstraZeneca has raised its full-year profit forecast after a solid third quarter, newly released results show.

The pharmaceutical giant said it now expects its core earnings per share in 2022 to rise at a constant rate of high in the 1920s to low in the 1930s, compared to previous expectations of a mid-to-high rise in the s. twenty.

At current exchange rates, earnings per share growth is expected to be hit by a mid- to high-single digit currency headwind, compared to previous expectations of a mid-single digit headwind.

The turnover of the Anglo-Swedish group’s oncology division increased by 24 percent, while the turnover increased by 20 percent.

The group saw revenues from nonprofit contracts for its Covid-19 vaccine decline during the period.

Across all of its divisions, it reported revenue of $11 billion in the third quarter, up 19 percent from a year ago. The company swung to a pre-tax profit of $922 million, from a $2 billion loss.

Pascal Soriot, the group’s CEO, said: “AstraZeneca continues to benefit from our continued investment in R&D, with 19 significant regulatory approvals since our last earnings call.

“After a strong year-to-date performance, we have increased our Core EPS guidance for the full year 2022.

In addition, recent encouraging data for several of our pipeline programs has given us the confidence to proceed with additional late-stage clinical trials as we continue to focus on achieving our growth ambitions.

“I would also like to draw attention to the announcement at COP27 to accelerate the execution of our net-zero strategy. Our company wants to lead by example in this increasingly important goal for the world.”

AstraZeneca Shares rose today, rising 2.25 percent or 244.00p to 11,090.00p this morning, after rising more than 18 percent in the past year.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This was a strong performance from AstraZeneca as a result of the good growth of its higher value drugs.

“But what’s really exciting is the continued high hit rate in terms of R&D success. 19 Significant regulatory approvals since the last update help underpin the long-term sustainable growth outlook, with more likely to follow with 18 Phase III readouts expected in 2023.

“AstraZeneca is sharpening its focus on genomics and its strong cash flows enable it to make strategic acquisitions. The proposed LogicBio acquisition announced last month, while relatively small, appears highly complementary to Alexion’s efforts to pioneer next-generation drugs for the treatment of rare genetic diseases.”