* First data from late-stage COVID vaccine trial seen in Q4
* Q3 product sales $6.52 bln vs consensus $6.50 bln
* Q3 profit misses on higher R&D expenses, taxes
* 2020 outlook maintained
(Writes through, adds executive quote, details on earnings)
By Pushkala Aripaka and Ludwig Burger
Nov 5 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca, the British drugmaker
working on one of the world's leading COVID-19 vaccine hopefuls,
reported progress in its pipeline of other medicines on Thursday
as it posted a mixed set of third-quarter results.
The company also echoed comments from its partners at Oxford
university, who said on Wednesday data from a late-stage study
of the potential COVID-19 vaccine should land this year.
AstraZeneca/Oxford are racing with Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna
and others to publish the first detailed results from large
COVID-19 vaccine trials. A vaccine is seen as the world's best
bet for beating a pandemic that has led to more than 1.2 million
deaths, roiled economies and disrupted billions of lives.
AstraZeneca has scored billions in funding and signed
multiple deals to supply over three billion doses to countries
around the world. However, a UK official said on Wednesday the
delivery timetable for shots had slipped.
While working on the vaccine, AstraZeneca is also making
progress on its pipeline of other drugs.
On Thursday, the company said two of its main drugs - cancer
treatment Lynparza and diabetes medicine Forxiga - had been
approved for wider use in Europe.
For the third quarter, product sales of $6.52 billion were
ahead of a company-compiled consensus of $6.50 billion. The
number excluded payments from collaborations.
"We made encouraging headway in the quarter, despite the
ongoing disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic," Chief Executive
Officer Pascal Soriot said.
However, the company reported core earnings of 94 cents per
share for the three months ended Sept. 30, lower than analysts'
expectations of 98 cents.
Research and development costs jumped 11% to $1.5 billion,
as more projects moved into the final stage of testing on humans
- typically the most expensive.
In eight years at the helm https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-company/leadership.html#,
Soriot has driven a change in AstraZeneca's fortunes by betting
on newer products and investing in research, putting the company
on the global stage.
The company said it still expected total revenue in 2020 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.
Total revenue growth slowed to 3% from 11% in the third
quarter as last year's number was boosted by $200 million in
milestone payments.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka, Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt;
Editing by Bernard Orr and Mark Potter)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
