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AstraZeneca announced on Friday that its inhaled triple-combination therapy 'Breztri Aerosphere' met all primary endpoints in two phase three trials, delivering statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in lung function for patients with uncontrolled asthma. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the KALOS and LOGOS studies, which were randomised, double-blind, and replicate in design, assessed Breztri against standard dual inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting beta2-agonist (ICS/LABA) therapy.

AstraZeneca delivered a strong performance in the first quarter of 2025, it announced on Tuesday, with total revenue rising 10% at constant exchange rates to $13.59bn, supported by double-digit growth in oncology and biopharmaceuticals across all major regions. The FTSE 100 drugmaker said product sales rose 9% to $12.88bn, while reported earnings per share climbed 34% to $1.89 and core EPS increased 21% to $2.49.

Core operating profit grew 12%, and the company maintained its full-year guidance for high single-digit revenue growth and low double-digit core EPS growth at constant exchange rates.

"Our strong growth momentum has continued into 2025 and we have now entered an unprecedented catalyst-rich period for our company," said chief executive officer Pascal Soriot.

He added that AstraZeneca was making "excellent progress toward our ambition of eighty billion dollars in total revenue by 2030," underpinned by a broad-based global manufacturing and R&D footprint, including planned expansion in the United States.

Alongside the results, AstraZeneca announced it would discontinue the CAPItello-280 phase three trial of Truqap in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after an independent committee concluded the combination therapy was unlikely to meet its primary endpoints.

The company said the safety profile remained consistent with previous studies and that findings would inform future research.

Separately, AstraZeneca also said it had received a positive recommendation from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for fixed-duration Calquence-based regimens in first-line chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Data from the AMPLIFY ohase three trial showed that Calquence combinations significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death compared to standard chemoimmunotherapy, positioning Calquence to potentially become the only all-oral second-generation BTK inhibitor regimen approved in Europe for untreated CLL patients.

AZN is a sound investment. Trump does things without any thought, other than what can I do to hurt the countries that I am fighting. The AZN products , especially the ones for treating various cancers, are in demand in demand in the USA and they will continue to be purchased whatever the cost. Putting a tax on them increases the price to US citizens who need them. The Trumphlation he is creating is deeply unpopular and eventually he will be forced to back down.

If you haven't sold out , don't . The share price will recover and Trump will not last forever.

(Sharecast News) - Morgan Stanley has initiated coverage of pharma giant AstraZeneca with an 'overweight' rating, recommending investors to build positions at a "compelling entry point".

The bank hailed AstraZeneca as an "innovation leader", saying that the company has an underappreciated pipeline with exposure to high-value markets across oncology, cardiovascular/renal and next-generation immuno-oncology.

"With pivotal clinical data starting in 2025+, success across these markets, could start to unlock value closer to our bull case valuation, £160/share," Morgan Stanley said. That compares with Tuesday's closing price of 11,624p.

As for the near term, 2025 should be a "catalyst-rich year", delivering double-digit bottom-line growth alongside continued strong product sales momentum, the bank said.

On Morgan Stanley's estimates, the stock trades at 15 times estimated earnings for 2025. While this is a 30% premium to other large-cap pharma peers, it is "justifiable given the superior top-line driven growth outlook [...] and significantly greater pipeline optionality," the bank said.

AstraZeneca announced positive results from a phase three prostate cancer trial on Monday, reporting that its AKT inhibitor 'Truqap', or capivasertib, in combination with abiraterone and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) in patients with PTEN-deficient metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC).

The FTSE 100 pharmaceutical giant said it marked the first time an AKT inhibitor combination had shown clinical benefit in that subtype of prostate cancer.

It said the trial's primary endpoint was met, with the Truqap combination outperforming a placebo combination of abiraterone and ADT in reducing disease progression.

Although overall survival (OS) data remained immature, an early trend toward improved OS was seen.

AstraZeneca said it would continue to monitor OS as a key secondary endpoint.

It said prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men and a significant global health concern, with metastatic forms linked to particularly poor outcomes.

PTEN-deficient tumours, found in about one-quarter of newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer cases, are associated with even worse prognoses.

The safety profile of Truqap in the combination was consistent with existing data for the individual therapies.

AstraZeneca said it would present the full trial data at an upcoming medical conference and engage with global regulatory bodies regarding the results.

"These results show for the first time, that adding an AKT inhibitor to a standard-of-care therapy can provide benefit to patients with a biomarker of PTEN-deficient metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer," said Susan Galbraith, AstraZeneca's executive vice-president of oncology research and development.

"By targeting a key driver of the disease, we have been able to improve upon current therapies and demonstrate the potential role of this combination in an area of critical unmet need.

"It will be important to see greater maturity in key secondary endpoints including overall survival."

Drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Monday that its Tagrisso asset had received a recommendation for EU approval on the back of LAURA Phase III trial results, which revealed it had extended median progression-free survival to more than three years. AstraZeneca said Tagrisso had been recommended for approval in the EU by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for patients with unresectable epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated lung cancer.

The FTSE 100-listed group stated trial results had shown Tagrisso reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 84% compared to placebo. Median progression-free survival was 39.1 months in patients treated with Tagrisso versus 5.6 months for the placebo.

AstraZeneca's Susan Galbraith said: "Today's news reinforces Tagrisso as the backbone therapy in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, meeting the critical unmet need for an effective targeted treatment option in the unresectable setting.

"Tagrisso has now demonstrated its benefit across all stages of EGFR-mutated lung cancer, representing a pivotal step in transforming care for patients who are urgently in need of innovative therapies that can help extend their lives."

the stock is currently trading at 33x consensus january 2026 earnings. (buy)

revenue increased 122% to $30.0bn, well ahead of expectations of $28.8bn and guidance of $28bn.

adjusted earnings per share increased 152% to $0.68, beating expectations of $0.65.

adjusted gross margin was 75.7%, within the guidance of 75%-76% and 4.5 percentage points higher than a year ago.

operating expenses increased 52%, with the result that operating income was up 156%.

data center revenue was $26.3bn ($22.6n last quarter), beating expectations of $25.7bn and up 154% versus last year and up 16% versus last quarter.

compute revenue was up 162%, driven by demand for our hopper gpu computing platform for training and inferencing of large language models, recommendation engines, and generative ai applications. growth versus last quarter was driven by consumer internet and enterprise companies. cloud service providers represented c.45% of data center revenue, and over 50% stemmed from consumer internet and enterprise companies. networking revenue was up 114% driven by infiniband and ethernet for ai.

nvidia shipped samples of the blackwell architecture to customers in the quarter. the company made changes to the blackwell gpu mask to improve production yield. blackwell production ramp is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter and continue into fiscal 2026. in the fourth quarter, nvidia expect to ship several billion dollars in blackwell revenue. hopper demand remains strong, and shipments are expected to increase in the second half of fiscal 2025.

gaming revenue was $2.9bn, slightly ahead of expectations and up 16% versus last year and up 9% versus last quarter, driven by higher sales of geforce rtx 40 series gpus and game console socs.

professional visualization revenue increased 20% versus last year and 6% versus last quarter. this was driven by the continued ramp of rtx gpu workstations based on ada architecture.

automotive revenue increased 37% versus a year ago and 5% sequentially, driven by the ramp of ai ****pit solutions and continued growth in self-driving platforms based on nvidia drive orin soc.

for the third quarter, nvidia expects revenue to be $32.5bn, plus or minus 2%, versus consensus estimates of $32.5bn. adjusted gross margin is expected to be 74.4%-75.0%.

Even after my substantial profit taking Nvidia is still my second largest holding.

Remember that no one rings a bell at the top of the market (applies to share prices too).

Sold half of my holding to lock in the (substantial) profit. What I continue to hold has now cost me nothing.

I got into this two years ago on my brokers recommendation. Their other tip was ASML as they sell machines for making the chips.

AstraZeneca has announced the acquisition of French biotech firm Amolyt Pharma for up to $1.05bn to beef up its late-stage rare disease pipeline. Amolyt, which is a specialist in the treatment of rare endocrine disease, will be purchased for $800m upfront on completion of the deal, plus an additional contingent payment of $250m payable upon achievement of a specified regulatory milestone. Through the bolt-on acquisition, AstraZeneca gets its hands on eneboparatide (AZP-3601), a Phase III investigational therapeutic peptide with a novel mechanism of action designed to meet key therapeutic goals for hypoparathyroidism - a deficiency of the parathyroid hormone that results in reduced calcium and elevated phosphorus levels in the blood. Hypoparathyroidism is one of the largest known rare diseases, affecting 115,000 people in the US and 107,000 people in the EU, 80% of whom are women. "Chronic hypoparathyroid patients face a significant need for an alternative to current supportive therapies, which do not address the underlying hormone deficiency," said Marc Dunoyer, head of AstraZeneca's rare disease unit Alexion. "As leaders in rare disease, Alexion is uniquely positioned to drive the late-stage development and global commercialisation of eneboparatide, which has the potential to lessen the often debilitating impact of low parathyroid hormone and avoid the risks of high-dose calcium supplementation." AstraZeneca reckons the deal will close by the end of the third quarter of 2024, subject to "the satisfaction of customary closing conditions in the acquisition agreement, including regulatory clearances", it said.

• In the early 2010s, AstraZeneca was facing one of the largest “patent cliffs” in the pharmaceutical industry, with around half of its sales expected to lose patent protection by 2016. In 2014, the company faced further pressure as it battled to fend off an acquisition attempt from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

• To combat these dual threats, management committed to reinvent the product portfolio through internal R&D with a goal of eventually doubling sales to over $45bn annually by 2023. Despite widespread scepticism, the company achieved these lofty targets (with a modest net contribution from acquisitions partially offset by unfavourable FX).

• Growth and innovation continues today, with AstraZeneca initiating 27 Phase III trial results in 2023, including ten with blockbuster potential, alongside 24 regulatory approvals in major markets and four new medicine approvals. The company expects to launch at least 15 new medicines by 2030.

• AstraZeneca’s Oncology division is one of the leading global cancer franchises, with a range of blockbuster products including Tagrisso, Lynparza and Imfimzi. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally with an estimated 20 million people diagnosed annually, a number that is set to rise to almost 28 million a year by 2040. We expect growth in Enhertu, a targeted treatment for breast cancer, alongside as-yet-unreleased oncology treatments to drive sales growth in the medium term in this division.

• AstraZeneca’s BioPharmaceuticals division is comprised of three subdivisions: Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism; Respiratory & Immunology, and Vaccines & Immune Therapies. Key products include Farxiga for Type-2 diabetes and Fasenra for asthma. In both cases there remains a significant unmet need globally.

• Following completion of the $39bn Alexion acquisition in July 2021, AstraZeneca began reporting sales for its new Rare Disease division. It’s leading blockbuster, Soliris, which treats a range of rare diseases, is gradually being replaced in some cases by Ultomiris, also now a blockbuster. Of the over 7,000 rare diseases that have been identified, only approximately 5%

• One area of concern for all drug companies is pricing headwinds. In the all-important US market, there are credible plans to lower branded drug costs after years of inaction, although we believe change will be slow and AstraZeneca will be relatively well placed given US revenues are 42% of total sales, lower than many global pharmaceutical peers.

Now I am worried!

All of the Covid vaccine producing companies were granted legal indemnity.

AstraZeneca reported strong first-half growth on Friday, despite challenges related to the decline of Covid-19 medicines. The FTSE 100 company said total revenue for the six months reached $22.3bn, representing a 4% increase. It noted that the growth was achieved despite a decline of $2.18bn attributed to Covid-19 medicines. Excluding the impact of Covid-19 medicines, AstraZeneca still reported a 16% increase in total revenue, and a 15% improvement in product sales. AstraZeneca said the strong performance extended across its various therapeutic areas, with oncology medicines seeing a 22% increase in total revenue, followed closely by cardiovascular, renal and metabolism (CVRM) at 20%, respiratory and immunology (R&I) at 10%, and rare disease at 12%. The firm also reported an encouraging improvement in core product sales gross margin, which stood at 83%, reflecting a three-percentage-point increase. Its core earnings per share jumped 21%, reaching $4.07, as the company maintained its interim dividend at 93 US cents. Looking ahead, AstraZeneca reiterated its guidance for the full year. "Each of our non-Covid-19 therapy areas saw double-digit revenue growth, with eight medicines delivering more than $1bn of revenue in the first half, demonstrating the strength of our business," said chief executive officer Pascal Soriot. "Several medicines grew rapidly including Ultomiris, Imfinzi/Imjudo and Farxiga, with revenues up 64%, 57% and 40% respectively." Soriot said AstraZeneca's pipeline momentum was continuing, with eight positive pivotal trials for its oncology medicines so far this year, adding that the company was encouraged by the positive data from 'TROPION-Lung01' - the first pivotal trial of datopotamab deruxtecan. "We look forward to sharing the data with the medical community at an upcoming medical congress and are proceeding to file the data with the US Food and Drug Administration."

He drugmaker began discussions with lenders several months ago, although a spinoff may not materialize, the report said. AstraZeneca (AZN) may also consider listing the business in Shanghai.

A separate listing would insulate the business from any potential crackdown on foreign companies in China.

The domestic listing could also help AstraZeneca (AZN) win faster approvals for therapies developed in China.

"Every multinational with a strong China business" seems to have considered a similar move, a senior banker told FT. "Even if it's just the option to give you flexibility in the future, it's worth thinking about."

"We do not comment on rumors or speculations around future strategy or M&A," an AstraZeneca (AZN) spokesperson told Seeking Alpha in an emailed statement.

Financial performance (Q1 2023 figures unless otherwise stated, growth numbers at CER)
? Total Revenue stable at $10,879m, despite a decline of $1,460m from COVID-19 medicines
? Excluding COVID-19 medicines, Total Revenue increased 15% and Product Sales increased 16%
? Total Revenue from Oncology medicines increased 19%, CVRM7 22%, R&I8 8%, and Rare Disease 14%
? Core Gross margin of 83%, up four percentage points, reflecting the decline in sales of lower margin COVID-19 medicines, the cost of production in prior periods, and a mix shift to more speciality medicines
? Core Operating margin of 36%, up one percentage point, reflecting a $220m increase in Core Other operating income, which included a gain from the divestment of Pulmicort Flexhaler rights in the US
? Core EPS increased 6% to $1.92
? Reiterating guidance for FY 2023 Total Revenue and Core EPS

https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2023/q1-2023-results.html

Not an easy question to answer. It really does depend on your time horizon.
I would say that if you are looking to buy and hold then todays price may seem quite cheap in ten years time, but may not in only a years time.
Bear in mind that in the short term high returns are only available from companies that carry high risk and if an established company looks cheap there is probably a good reason for that.
My portfolio holds many Pharma companies but it is a holding that I have built up over a 30 year period. I do hold other stacks in addition. Some are doing very well and others less so.

AZN is fireproof on any legal action relating to the Covid vaccine deaths!
I have a substantial holding and will not be selling.