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(Recasts, adds details on vaccine, results, background)
Nov 5 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca, the British drugmaker
working on one of the world's leading COVID-19 vaccine
candidates, beat third-quarter sales estimates on Thursday and
reiterated it expects data from late-stage trials of the vaccine
later this year.
The company has taken on the development of Oxford
University's potential COVID-19 vaccine, scoring billions in
funding and signing multiple deals to supply over three billion
doses to countries around the world.
Data in October showed the vaccine, called AZD1222 or
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, produces an immune response in both old and
young adults. AstraZeneca is expected to publish eagerly awaited
late-stage clinical trial data in the coming weeks.
Expectations are that Britain could start rolling out a
successful vaccine in late December or early 2021.
While AstraZeneca marches on with the vaccine, demand for
its diverse portfolio of drugs remained strong despite
disruptions to health systems due to the pandemic.
Product sales, which exclude payments from collaborations,
rose 7% to $6.52 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30 on
a constant-currency basis, ahead of a company-compiled consensus
of $6.50 billion.
However, the company reported core earnings of 94 cents per
share, lower than analysts' expectations of 98 cents.
AstraZeneca said it still expects total revenue to increase
by a high single-digit to a low double-digit percentage and core
earnings per share to increase by a mid- to high-teens
percentage.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka, Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt;
Editing by Bernard Orr and Mark Potter)
