(Adds detail)
July 29 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine
sales more than tripled to $894 million in the second quarter
from the previous three months, and the drugmaker updated its
2021 forecasts on Thursday to include sales from its Alexion
unit.
The Anglo-Swedish company has also delayed its application
to U.S. authorities for approval of the vaccine to the second
half of this year. Previously, AstraZeneca was hoping to file it
within the first half.
The vaccine, invented by Oxford University and hailed a
milestone in the fight against the pandemic, has faced several
setbacks, including production delays and possible links to some
rare, but severe side-effects that are being probed by
regulators.
The company, which has said it will not make a profit from
the shot during the pandemic, updated its financial guidance to
include the recent closing of its deal to buy rare medicines
business Alexion.
It now expects total revenue to increase by a low-twenties
percentage this year, and core earnings of $5.05 per share to
$5.40 per share. The forecast does not includes sales from the
vaccine.
Total revenue rose 25% to $8.22 billion for the three months
to June on a constant-currency basis, while core earnings came
in at 90 cents per share, compared with analysts' consensus
forecasts of 92 cents on sales of $7.58 billion.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Alistair Smout
in London
Editing by Mark Potter)