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Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca reported a rise in first-half profit as strong sales in the new medicines and cancer divisions bolstered results.
For the year pre-ax profit rose to $2.37 billion from $1.90 billion year-on-year as revenue increased 23% to $15.54 billion.
Sales was driven primarily by the 'performances of new medicines across Oncology and BioPharmaceuticals, including Tagrisso, Calquence and Farxiga,' the company said.
Total revenue included $1,169m of pandemic COVID-19 vaccine sales.
Looking ahead to the full-year fiscal 2021, the company updated its guidance on performance to reflect the contribution from recently acquired Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
Total revenue is expected to increase by a low-twenties percentage, accompanied by a faster growth in core earnings per share to $5.05 to $5.40.