By Pushkala Aripaka and Maggie Fick
April 29 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca beat first-quarter profit expectations and maintained its 2026 forecasts on Wednesday, supported by strong demand for its cancer and rare-disease drugs and investments in the key U.S. and China markets.
CEO Pascal Soriot is steering the European drugmaker toward its $80 billion annual revenue target for 2030, deepening its U.S. and China presence while navigating complex geopolitics and industry change.
The company remains “on track to achieve our ambition for 2030 and beyond,” Soriot said, adding the firm was investing in its commercial operations and preparing multiple drug launches to offset pricing pressure and patent losses.
If approved by U.S. regulators, AstraZeneca expects to launch this year baxdrostat for high blood pressure, camizestrant for a type of breast cancer and gefurulimab for a chronic autoimmune disease, as it targets 20 launches by 2030.
Analysts forecast 2030 sales of $80 billion, according to LSEG data, with 2026 sales growth of 7.2% and profit growth of 11.2%, after similar gains in 2025.
VARYING REGIONAL CHALLENGES
The drugmaker maintained expectations for low double-digit percentage growth in core earnings at constant currencies in 2026, and mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth.
AstraZeneca has expanded aggressively over the past year, striking a $50 billion U.S. manufacturing deal, securing an NYSE listing, winning U.S. tariff relief via a drug pricing agreement, committing $15 billion in Chinese investments and expanding cell-therapy capacity in China.
Drugmakers are grappling with the U.S. ‘most-favored-nation’ policy, which pegs American medicine prices to lower ones abroad, including Europe. This is prompting companies to seek higher prices overseas or to delay launches, analysts and executives say.
Soriot last week warned that Europe could become a mere “sales office” for the industry as it falls further behind the United States and China in life sciences competitiveness.
MOMENTUM PRICED IN
For the first quarter ended March 31, revenue rose 8% to $15.29 billion, while core earnings were $2.58 per share, beating expectations for $14.9 billion and $2.54, respectively, in a company consensus.
Sales from AstraZeneca’s oncology division rose 16%, while its rare disease unit logged sales growth of 15%. U.S. revenue grew 10%, while China sales grew 2%.
Shares in AstraZeneca, whose stock is flat this year, were down 1% by 0803 GMT, with the FTSE 100 slipping 0.6%.
eToro analyst Adam Vettese said the stock’s “muted” reaction suggests investors had priced in the company’s momentum.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka, Sri Hari N S in Bengaluru and Maggie Fick in London; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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