US Markets
AstraZeneca Logs Higher First-half Profit on Strong Oncology, Rare Disease Drugs Sales; Outlook Maintained
Shares in AstraZeneca (AZN.L, AZN.ST) rose early Monday morning after the drugmaker posted higher first-half results and backed its full-year guidance and long-term targets.Attributable profit for the six months ended June 30 increased to $5.59 billion from $5.37 billion a year earlier, while revenue climbed to $30.67 billion from $28.05 billion.The revenue increase was helped by double-digit growth in the company's oncology and rare disease drugs, which mitigated headwinds from the loss of exclusivity for its Farxiga drug in the US and China volume-based procurement.AstraZeneca shares were up more than 1% in London during early morning trading and were marginally higher in Stockholm."In the first half we saw strong performance and continued pipeline delivery, including six key positive Phase III [programs] and eight first approvals in major markets, including in the US for Baxfendy, our first-in-class medicine for hypertension," Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said.Looking ahead, the company maintained its full-year guidance of mid-to-high single-digit growth in total revenue, alongside a low-double-digit increase in core EPS."While we are disappointed by the CARDIO-TTRansform outcome, we are on track to deliver our $80bn Total Revenue ambition, which assumes successes and setbacks. We remain confident in the strength of our pipeline and have more than twenty high-value readouts due over the next 18 months," Soriot added.The AstraZeneca board raised the interim dividend for the first half by $0.03 to $1.06 per share.
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