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AstraZeneca Hikes Annual Profit Outlook
By Maggie Fick and Eva Mathews
LONDON (Reuters) -AstraZeneca raised its annual earnings forecast on Thursday, helped by strong demand for its cancer drugs, and moved to boost its pipeline in the booming anti-obesity market with a deal costing up to $2 billion.
The Anglo-Swedish company reported third-quarter profit and revenue just ahead of analyst expectations. For the third consecutive quarter, strong sales of its blockbuster cancer treatments and healthy demand in emerging markets offset the loss of sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and therapy.
The London-listed company also said it had bought an exclusive licence for an oral weight-loss drug candidate for up to about $2 billion from China's Eccogene, aiming to join what is currently one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical markets.
"I am excited about the acceleration of our cardiometabolic and obesity pipeline with today's licensing agreement," CEO Pascal Soriot said in a statement.
AstraZeneca - one of the strongest performers recently among listed European pharmaceutical companies - reported core profit per share of $1.73 for the third quarter, exceeding the $1.69 per share expected in a company-compiled consensus.
Revenue of $11.49 billion came in just above the consensus forecast of $11.47 billion.
The company said it now expected core earnings per share to increase by a low double-digit to low-teens percentage for the year, compared with a previous forecast of high single-digit to low double-digit percentage growth. It also expects total revenue to increase by a mid single-digit percentage, compared with low-to-mid single-digit growth previously.
The results add to a string of strong quarters for Britain's biggest company by market capitalisation - worth 159 billion pounds ($195 billion) - bolstered by nine medicines that delivered more than $1 billion in revenue in the first nine months of this year.
Its shares were up 3.2% at 1321 GMT.
Terence McManus, fund manager at Switzerland's Bellevue Asset Management, said third-quarter revenue growth of 13% excluding COVID medicines showed "strong momentum", but noted results were in line with consensus.
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Sales in China excluding COVID products rose by just 1% on a constant currency basis - the fifth consecutive quarter of growth, but below the 7% increase in the second quarter. China accounted for 13% of AstraZeneca's revenue last year.
The company, which is the largest foreign drugmaker in China, said there was some impact on sales there from reduced promotional activities following the launch of a government anti-corruption campaign in July targeting the bribing of doctors in drug and medical equipment sales.
The campaign led Chinese doctors to slow their prescribing in the third quarter, but in October AstraZeneca saw demand picking up again, CEO Soriot told journalists on a call after the earnings announcement.
"So we think the effect will be much more short lasting than we originally anticipated," he said.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick in London and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Mark Potter)
AstraZeneca Jab 'linked With Slightly Increased Risk Of Some Bleeding Disorders'
The Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is associated with slightly increased risk of some bleeding disorders, research suggests.
An analysis of people who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca (AZ) or Pfizer/BioNTech jab revealed a small increased risk of an autoimmune bleeding disorder known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) associated with the AZ vaccine.
The research also suggested there may be evidence of an increased risk of other bleeding and vascular events associated with the vaccine.
Researchers said these very small risks are important but rare, and are comparable with those of other jabs, including vaccines against hepatitis B, measles, mumps and rubella, and flu.
Clinical trials have demonstrated the Pfizer and AZ coronavirus vaccines have been generally well tolerated, although there has been a small number of reports of serious side-effects.
The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) received 209 reports of thrombocytopenic and thromboembolic cases – bleeding disorders and blood clot disorders, respectively – after 22 million first doses and 6.8 million second doses of the AZ jab.
Aziz Sheikh at the University of Edinburgh, and colleagues, examined cases of vaccine-related bleeding and vascular events among 2.53 million adults in Scotland (57% of the adult population aged 18 and older) who received their first doses of vaccines between December and April.
The researchers found that for these people, the AZ jab was associated with a slightly increased risk of ITP up to 27 days after vaccination.
The disorder can cause minor bruising in some patients and excessive bleeding and long-term illness in others.
This was at an estimated frequency of 1.13 cases per 100,000 first-dose vaccinations.
The analysis also found very small increased risks of other arterial blood clot and bleeding events associated with the jab up to 27 days after vaccination.
However, there was insufficient data to conclude there was an association between the AZ vaccine and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis – a rare condition in which a blood clot forms in the brain.
(PA Graphics)There was no evidence of an increased risk of the adverse events associated with the Pfizer vaccine.
The researchers stress the findings need to be understood within the context of the clear benefits of the AZ vaccine.
The risk of developing a serious adverse event related to the vaccine is far lower than the risk of serious illness or death caused by coronavirus, particularly for elderly and other vulnerable populations.
Further research involving younger people and to assess responses to second doses of the vaccines is needed.
Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "The overall message is that, even if the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine does have an increased risk of ITP, its benefit outweighs its risk.
"For the majority of people ITP does not cause serious problems but it is not the case for everyone."
Dr Will Lester, consultant haematologist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Unlike the rare syndrome of vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) described after vaccination with the AZ and J&J (Johnson & Johnson) Covid vaccines, immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is generally manageable.
"ITP is a condition where the immune system destroys a persons own platelets. Platelets help prevent bleeding. Bleeding symptoms are usually mild and death from ITP is very rare."
The study is published in Nature Medicine.
The findings come after concerns were raised about the AZ vaccine being linked to blood clots.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said there is an "extremely small risk" of people suffering blood clots after having the jab.
It advised that another vaccine should be offered to under-40s without underlying health conditions where an alternative is available, and as long as it does not cause any substantial delays to the vaccination programme.
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