on Thursday, April 27, beat expectations for first-quarter profit and revenue, as buoyant sales of cancer treatment Imfinzi and strong demand for its roster of drugs in emerging markets helped to offset dwindling COVID product sales., its best-selling product in 2021 at the height of the pandemic, which has struggled to compete with rival shots developed by Pfizer and Moderna.
The company’s cancer drug Imfinzi generated $900 million in the quarter, handsomely beating estimates of $735 million from brokerage Cowen.$39-billion acquisition of AlexionFunds will continue to embrace AstraZeneca’s strategy and are probably increasingly confident in what the company is doing, Russ Mould, investment director at the stockbroker AJ Bell, told Reuters.
Chief executive officer Pascal Soriot said AstraZeneca’s performance in emerging markets was particularly strong. AstraZeneca is seen as a bellwether for the pharmaceutical sector in China, given its outsized presence in the region. In 2022, the country accounted for about 13% of the company’s total revenue.