AstraZeneca Plc’s profit rose more than analysts anticipated last quarter, buoyed by demand for its blockbuster cancer and diabetes drugs.
Earnings per share, excluding some items, climbed 14% to $2.38, the UK drugmaker said Thursday, above the $2.30 expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales grew to $15.2 billion, also exceeding estimates. The company reiterated its guidance for the year even though some analysts had forecast a raise.
Chief Executive Pascal Soriot has turned Astra into an oncology-drug powerhouse. Cancer medicines, alongside a growing portfolio to treat cardiovascular and metabolic conditions, are expected to fuel growth as the company seeks to enter the booming obesity market.
Astra shares rose about 1% in early London trading. The stock is up almost 20% since the start of the year, less than local rival GSK Plc, which has made a renewed push into cancer lately.
Astra bought the remaining shares of SixPeaks Bio AG, a biotech developing medicines for weight-management with the goal of preserving lean muscle mass. In addition to the $15 million investment it made last year, SixPeaks is eligible for up to $300 million in additional payments, Astra said Thursday.
The company missed out on the first wave of obesity medicines but it’s hoping that its approach focused on protecting key organs like the heart as well as potentially preserving muscles will give it an edge in the second generation of drugs.
In October, Astra became the second pharmaceutical company to strike a deal with US President Donald Trump on drug pricing, which will exempt it from tariffs for three years. The drugmaker has pledged to launch new medicines in the US at the same price as in other wealthy countries.
Astra is headquartered in Cambridge, England, and Soriot called on the government to attract investment to drive economic growth. “The UK needs to create the environment that attracts this investment and right now the opposite is true,” he said in a an interview on Bloomberg television. “Companies are reducing investment and have been doing so for many years.” Even so, Soriot said he was happy with the company’s UK headquarters and saw “no reason to change this.”
The medicines that powered growth last quarter include the cancer drug Imfinzi, which delivered $1.6 billion in sales, higher than anticipated, and Farxiga for diabetes. Another newer cancer medicine, Enhertu, far exceeded estimates.
The drugmaker has seen positive clinical-trial results for experimental treatments including pills for breast cancer and hypertension lately.
Astra’s decision to reiterate its guidance rather than increase is “conservative in our view,” Naresh Chouhan, an analyst at Intron Health, wrote in a note. It implies a slowdown this quarter from the rest of the year as the comparison will be tougher, he said.
A message from Advisor Perspectives and VettaFi: Discover something new! Click here to register for our upcoming webcasts.
Bloomberg News provided this article. For more articles like this please visit
bloomberg.com.
Read more articles by Ashleigh Furlong
