29 July 2025
If you are covering AstraZeneca’s latest financial results, please find below a comment from Sheena Berry, healthcare analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
“AstraZeneca continues to deliver strong growth, with its second quarter results showing solid rises in product sales, up 10% overall. This was primarily driven by 18% growth seen from the oncology portfolio, which has done well as a result of key drugs such as Imfinzi, Tagrisso and Enhertu. The group shows no sign of slowing down either and continues to invest in its pipeline and product launches with research and development spend increasing 18% in the quarter.
“The big uncertainty, unsurprisingly, remains US tariffs and Most Favoured Nation pricing in the pharmaceutical sector. AstraZeneca has looked to get ahead of this uncertainty and highlight its US credentials by recently announcing a $50bn investment in the country by 2030. This is a delicate situation for AstraZeneca as it generates over 40% of its sales in the US and they have increased by 14% in the quarter. It will want to stay on the right side of Donald Trump and his administration as much as possible.
“For now, 2025’s guidance has been reiterated with sales expected to increase by high single-digits and core earnings to grow by low double-digits. This remains a catalyst rich period for the group with multiple positive Phase III readouts and drug approvals in 2025 to date. The main pipeline update included in the results is the AVANZAR lung cancer trial readout, which is now expected in the first half of 2026, rather than later this year as was expected. However, the long-term outlook remains attractive with the group making progress towards its target of $80bn in total revenue by 2030.”
