AstraZeneca aims for $80 billion in total revenue by 2030

By Maggie Fick and Yadarisa Shabong

(Reuters) - AstraZeneca aims to grow revenue by about 75% to $80 billion by 2030, it said on Tuesday, boosted by the expected launch of 20 new medicines and through growth in its cancer, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolio.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had reported total revenue of $45.81 billion last year and earlier expected to launch at least 15 new medicines between 2023 and 2030.

CEO Pascal Soriot has turned around the company's fortunes since taking over the reins more than a decade ago, rebuilding its new drug pipeline with blockbusters such as lung cancer drug Tagrisso, leukaemia drug Calquence and Farxiga for diabetes.

The ambitious targets set out at Tuesday's event cement Soriot's bet on oncology after successful breast cancer trials over the years boosted the firm's oncology credentials.

AstraZeneca shares have more than tripled in value since 2014, when the company last held an investor day event on the heels of the unsuccessful Pfizer takeover bid.

They were up 1.5% by 1015 GMT on Tuesday and have gained about 15% so far in 2024, underperforming rivals Novo Nordisk's 29% gain and GSK's nearly 21% rise.

AstraZeneca's strategy follows Monday's plans to build a cancer drug plant in Singapore as it bets on a promising category of cancer-killing drugs called antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

The Cambridge-based company has also been expanding its global research and development footprint and has R&D centres in England, Sweden, China and the United States.

"Having a global footprint is a fantastic advantage," Soriot said.

New technologies including ADCs, radioconjugates and cell therapy are making up a growing proportion of the new pipeline, as the traditional small molecule format reduces in prominence, Soriot said at Tuesday's event.

These technologies will be very difficult for generic companies to rapidly replicate, he added.

NEW REVENUE POTENTIAL

AstraZeneca pushed into the ADC market with Daiichi Sankyo and in March invested $2 billion in next-generation cancer treatments via the purchase of Canadian drug developer Fusion, giving it a foothold in the radiopharmaceutical drugs market, which has seen increasing investor interest.

It also entered the booming anti-obesity drug market through a licensing deal with Chinese biotech company Eccogene.

Soriot said on Tuesday that many of the new medicines the drugmaker plans to launch by 2030 have the "potential to generate more than $5 billion in peak year revenues".

AstraZeneca, which is facing patent expiries on some key drugs, said it would continue to invest in new technologies and platforms that will "shape the future of medicine" beyond 2030.

Analysts at Jefferies said the revenue target of $80 billion was widely expected, adding that major new drug catalysts are "somewhat scarce" until 2025 but that its "pipeline optionality remains perhaps best-in-class" for big pharma.

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Maggie Fick; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Kirsten Donovan, Christian Schmollinger and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)