The British pharmaceutical behemoth AstraZeneca announced on Thursday that its net profit for the first three months of the year increased by 21% as a result of a robust increase in sales of cancer medications.
AstraZeneca reported in a results release that profit after tax increased by more than 25% to $2.18 billion from the first quarter of the previous year.
“AstraZeneca had a very strong start in 2024,” chief executive Pascal Soriot said in the statement, which noted a 26-percent increase in revenue from oncology treatments.
Total group sales increased 19 percent to $12.7 billion in the first quarter.
“Our strong pipeline momentum continued and already this year we announced positive trial results for Imfinzi and Tagrisso that were unprecedented in lung cancer,” added Soriot.
In its most recent move into the cancer therapy market, the corporation agreed to pay up to $2.4 billion to acquire US biopharmaceutical startup Fusion in the first quarter.
Fusion is creating next-generation radiation therapy with precise targeting to minimize harm to healthy cells while treating cancer.
With a robust cancer branch helping to offset a wipeout for sales of its Covid medicines, AstraZeneca’s net profit nearly doubled to $6 billion last year, coinciding with the company’s newest foray into oncology.
Additionally in the first quarter, the company signed an agreement to strengthen its rare illnesses subsidiary Alexion by paying around $1 billion to acquire French biotech specialist Amolyt Pharma.
