AstraZeneca quarterly earnings top hopes amid mixed pipeline updates

AstraZeneca PLC on Monday reported stronger-than-expected earnings in its second quarter, with sales broadly as forecast, together with mixed news for its drugs pipeline.

The Cambridge-based drug maker said pretax profit rose 2.8% in the first half of 2026 to USD6.71 billion from USD6.53 billion the year prior, as revenue increased 9.4% to USD30.67 billion from USD28.05 billion.

In the second quarter, pretax profit decreased 11% to USD2.80 billion from USD3.13 billion a year prior, despite revenue rising 6.4% to USD15.38 billion from USD14.46 billion. Revenue was in line with USD15.39 billion company compiled consensus.

Core operating profit per share in the second quarter rose 21% on-year to USD2.63, an 18% rise at constant currency, beating consensus of USD2.49. In the half-year, core EPS grew 12% to USD5.21.

The interim dividend was increased to USD1.06 per share from USD1.03 a year ago.

Shares in AstraZeneca, the second largest company in the FTSE 100 by market value, rose 1.2% to 12,820.00 pence each in London on Monday morning. The wider FTSE 100 was up 0.3%.

AstraZeneca said sales in the first half were boosted by double-digit growth in Oncology and Rare Disease offsetting headwinds from Farxiga US loss of exclusivity and China volume-based procurement.

"In the first half we saw strong performance and continued pipeline delivery, including six key positive phase III programmes and eight first approvals in major markets, including in the US for Baxfendy, our first-in-class medicine for hypertension," said Chief Executive Pascal Soriot.

Soriot said AstraZeneca remains on track to deliver its USD80 billion total revenue ambition by 2030, "which assumes successes and setbacks", referring to a recent trial disappointment, alongside mixed pipeline updates on Monday.

Earlier in July, shares in AstraZeneca plunged 10% after cardiovascular drug Wainua failed to meet its primary endpoint in a nearly three-year trial.

"We remain confident in the strength of our pipeline and have more than twenty high-value readouts due over the next 18 months," Soriot stressed on Monday.

The company still expects total revenue for the full-year to rise by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage, with core EPS climbing by a low double-digit percentage. Total revenue in 2025 amounted to USD58.74 billion, while core EPS came in at USD9.16.

Separately, AstraZeneca said rare disease drug Ultomiris did not achieve statistical significance ​for event-free survival at 26 weeks in patients with ​haematopoietic stem cell transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy, though it showed ⁠a trend toward benefit.

Discussions with health authorities are ongoing regarding the interpretation of these data, AstraZeneca said.

Ultomiris is ​already approved in the US, the ​EU and Japan for treating certain rare blood disorders and neurological conditions.

There was better news for experimental treatment sonesitatug vedotin which met a key ​goal in a phase 3 trial, showing a ​statistically significant ⁠and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival in advanced gastric cancer patients.

Susan Galbraith, executive vice president, Oncology Haematology R&D, AstraZeneca said the results were "transformative."

"Sone-Ve has the potential to reshape the treatment of gastric cancer by replacing classic chemotherapy with this novel targeted antibody drug conjugate to improve outcomes for patients," she added.

Sone-Ve has received orphan drug designation from the US Food & Drug Administration and the European Commission for the treatment of gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer. It has also received breakthrough designation in China for the 2nd-line treatment of gastric cancer.

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