AstraZeneca on Friday beat first-quarter sales and profit expectations and stood by its forecasts for 2022 as newer therapies for kidney disease and rare conditions offset an expected decline in COVID-19 vaccine sales.
It expects sales of its antibody-based COVID-19 treatment, Evusheld, to grow this year, but that will be more than outweighed by a decline in sales of its vaccine developed with Oxford University amid growing competition, concerns about its shelf life and vaccine hesitancy.
The vaccine recorded $1.15 billion in sales in the quarter, the majority of which came from initial contracts, while the antibody treatment brought in $469 million.
The two-dose shot was AstraZeneca’s second best-selling product in 2021 with sales of $3.9 billion.
AstraZeneca’s total revenue jumped 60% to $11.39 billion for the three months ended March 31 on a constant-currency basis.
Core earnings of $1.89 per share were helped by strong sales of products such as Farxiga for diabetes and kidney and the vaccine.
Analysts on average were expecting profit of $1.70 per share on revenue of $10.85 billion, Refinitiv IBES data showed.
However, sales of its top three oncology drugs - Tagrisso, Imfinzi and Lynparza - missed consensus expectations.
Even though COVID-19 levels are beginning to wane, access to cancer diagnoses and treatment has still not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
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