AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company, has outlined their ambitious aspirations to almost double their revenue to $80 billion (equivalent to €73.5 billion) by the year 2030. This news was shared by chief executive Pascal Soriot during an internal update, viewed as the most monumental within the company for the past ten years.
To accomplish this objective, the firm disclosed its plan to expand its existing product line while introducing 20 new treatments within the next decade, specifically in the segments of rare diseases and cancer care. In doing so, the company projects to escalate their revenue significantly from its estimated $45.8 billion figure in 2023.
Tuesday will see AstraZeneca presenting its long-term growth strategy at a much-anticipated investor meeting in Cambridge, with roughly 760 employees in the Republic expecting an update about the firm’s plans. This event is deemed the most critical since 2014 when the company aggressively resisted a takeover attempt by US competitor Pfizer. This rejection was coupled with a bold revenue target of $45 billion for 2023.
Investor reactions have been mild with less than a 1% increase in share prices on Tuesday morning. The $80 billion goal was “widely anticipated,” cited analyst Peter Welford from Jefferies.
Under Soriot’s leadership, AstraZeneca has showcased some of the top shareholder returns in the pharmaceutical sector, realizing $45.8 billion in sales last year alone through their portfolio of treatments for cancer, cardiovascular, and rare diseases.
Yet, doubts loom around the company’s continuous growth, as the share price has stalled over the last year with less than a 2% hike, largely due to uncertain growth and patent expirations on key treatments, such as heart failure, diabetes, and kidney disease remedy Farxiga.
In what is labelled as their most significant long-term strategy since their 2014 revenue target, AstraZeneca intends their antibody drug conjugates, an advanced form of chemotherapy that targets cancer cells without harming healthy tissue, to play a crucial role in accomplishing their new target of $80 billion.
The firm also declared their intention to launch a $1.5 billion facility in Singapore to exclusively produce these therapies.
AstraZeneca, in collaboration with Japanese business Daiichi Sankyo, brought in over $2.5 billion in sales last year from the ADC drug Enhertu. They are now conducting trials to broaden its application for patients with breast and lung cancer. Additionally, they are anticipating regulatory endorsement for another ADC medication under development.
Adding to that, AstraZeneca is making efforts to establish its presence in the profitable obesity market, which is presently controlled by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Early data on a weight reduction tablet, that AstraZeneca acquired licensing rights for from Chinese biotech firm Eccogene last year, is eagerly awaited by investors. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024.