40 2GM Friday July 31 2020 | the times
Business
Success of new drugs puts
Astrazeneca in rude health
Astrazeneca posted a large rise in first-
half revenue and improved profit and
cashflows as Britain’s biggest drugs
company continued to benefit from the
launch of new blockbuster drugs.
Revenue increased 14 per cent at
constant currencies to $12.6 billion in
the six months to the end of June,
boosted by growth across its three
therapy areas and all of its regions.
Sales of new medicines jumped by 45
per cent to $6.4 billion to represent half
of Astrazeneca’s total global revenue.
The company is benefiting from
years of investment in research and
development that have transformed itspipeline and revived sales, which had
been hit by a “patent cliff” including the
loss of protection for Crestor, its best-
selling statin.
The company was formed through
the 1999 merger of Astra, of Sweden,
and the British group Zeneca. It is build-
ing a delayed £1 billion global R&D and
corporate headquarters in Cambridge.The turnaround has triggered a rally in
Astrazeneca’s shares, which hit new
highs this year and briefly turned it into
the most valuable FTSE 100 company.
It said in its half-year results yester-
day that oncology sales, which have
become a key therapeutic focus, rose by
31 per cent to $5.3 billion, once more led
by its trio of new cancer treatments,
Tagrisso, Imfinzi and Lynparza.
Revenue in emerging markets, Astra-
zeneca’s biggest region, rose 15 per cent
to $4.3 billion, with growth of 14 per
cent to $2.7 billion in China, which has
become an increasingly significant
market. However, sales there were held
back by the impact of Covid-19 on sales
of Pulmicort, its asthma treatment.
Pre-tax profits more than doubled to
$1.9 billion from $899 million last year.
The strong results, which surpassed
City forecasts in the second quarter, led
Astrazeneca to reiterate its full-year
forecasts of revenue to increase by a
“high single-digit to a low double-digit
percentage” and core earnings per
share by a percentage in the mid to high
teens. However, it cautioned there were
“heightened risks and uncertainties
from the impact of Covid-19”, and it
expects some trials to be delayed.
Pascal Soriot, chief executive since
2012, has been credited with transform-
ing the company’s fortunes and
successfully rebuffing the £55-a-share
takeover approach from Pfizer, a US
peer, in 2014.
The results cap a frenetic first six
months of the year involving multiple
drug trial read-outs, speculation about
a merger with Gilead, the US biotech
group, and its deepening role in Britain’s
attempt to develop a vaccine for Covid-
19 through a partnership with the
University of Oxford.
The vaccine candidate produced
encouraging interim human trial data
this month and Astrazeneca is prepar-
ing to begin distribution of the vaccine
from September, if more trials prove
successful. It has agreed with govern-
ments to make two billion doses,
including 100 million for the UK.
Astrazeneca has committed to sup-
ply the vaccine at no profit during the
pandemic and Mr Soriot said it could
make it for a “few dollars” per dose.
Shares rose 136p, or 1.6 per cent, to
£87.51 on the London Stock Exchange,
valuing it at £114.8 billion.Alex Ralph
Stella brewer
bubbles up to
the No 1 spot
For years Anheuser-Busch Inbev has
been the world’s biggest brewer,
ahead of Heineken, but in the UK it
has mostly lagged behind Heineken
and Molson Coors.
No longer. The owner of Stella
Artois and Budweiser said yesterdayDominic Walsh
tion injectable opiod treatment, which
rose to $58 million from $28 million a
year earlier. Enrolments for Sublocade
and Perseris, its treatment for
schizophrenia in adults, were affected
by fewer patient visits to healthcare
providers because of the virus.
The company lost $145 million in the
first half compared with a $141 million
profit a year ago. It was hit by promo-
tion costs for Sublocade and legal bills
related to the Department of Justice in-
vestigation. Indivior agreed last week to
pay $600 million to US authorities over
seven years. Its shares have rallied and
yesterday they were up nearly 7p, or 5.1
per cent, at 142½p.
Shaun Thaxter, chief executive since
2009, pleaded guilty in court last
month to causing misbranded informa-
tion about Suboxone Film. He has been
replaced by Mark Crossley.US inquiry and patent fights
leave Indivior with headache
Generic competition to Indivior’s best-
selling opioid addiction treatment and
costs related to a US inquiry into its
marketing weakened the drugmaker’s
half-year results.
Net revenue declined by a third to
$303 million to the end of June, as Sub-
oxone Film lost market share in Amer-
ica to copycat rivals. Its market share
fell to 21 per cent at the end of the half,
compared with 27 per cent last year.
Indivior was spun-off from Reckitt
Benckiser in 2014. It built a dominant
position for Suboxone Film, but the in-
vestigation and patent battles with
competitors have hampered its trading
and share price.
The decline in first-half sales was
partly offset by an increase in revenue
for Sublocade, Indivior’s next-genera-Alex Ralph
AB Inbev, which owns the Stella Artois,