AstraZeneca first quarter profit, revenue beat expectations

By Natalie Grover and Maggie Fick

LONDON (Reuters) -AstraZeneca on Thursday beat expectations for its first -quarter profit and revenue, helped by sales of its roster of drugs in emerging markets.

The London-listed drugmaker, which reports its results in U.S. dollars, reported adjusted profit of $1.92 per share on sales of about $10.9 billion.

Analysts on average were expecting $1.71 per share on sales of about $10.6 billion, according to company-compiled consensus estimates.

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:)’s performance in emerging markets was particularly strong, CEO Pascal Soriot said in a statement.

Excluding sales of its COVID-19 products, sales grew 22% to $3.1 billion in emerging markets on a constant currency basis.

AstraZeneca is seen as a bellwether for the pharmaceutical sector in China, given its outsized presence in the region. In 2022, the country accounted for about 13% of the company’s total revenue.

Sales in China were hurt by lower drug prices while its tough zero-COVID policy, which was abandoned in December, have kept some patients from being diagnosed and seeking care.

But sales started to pick up in the second half of 2022, and the company generated 8% sales growth in the region on a constant currency basis in the first quarter of 2023.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker also stood by its 2023 forecast on Thursday.

AstraZeneca’s best-selling cancer drugs — Tagrisso, Imfinzi and Lynparza — generated $1.4 billion, $900 million and $651 million of sales, respectively, in the quarter.

Cowen analysts expected the three drugs to bring in about $1.45 billion, $735 million and $700 million respectively, in quarterly sales.

Other key medicines, such as the rare blood disorder drug Soliris and Ultomiris that came with AstraZeneca’s $39 billion acquisition in 2021 of Alexion (NASDAQ:), generated sales of $834 million and $651 million, well ahead Cowen estimates of $500 million and $400 million respectively.