AstraZeneca says a strong 2024 and stacked pipeline spells potential for further growth in 2025 as the company aims to bring in $80bn in revenue by 2030.
CFO Aradhana Sarin outlined AstraZeneca’s plans at the 2025 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on 15 January. The company maintains a confident outlook for the new year, said Sarin, despite its share price decline in the latter half of 2024.
During her presentation, Sarin focussed on the company’s performance during the first nine months of 2024, during which AstraZeneca increased total revenue by 19% against the same period in 2023 . Additionally, cash flow rose by almost $1bn over the prior year. The company’s growth was largely attributed to its expanded clinical pipeline, which includes late-stage trials that have increased in number from 77 in 2022 to 91 in 2024.
This year promises to be a “catalyst-rich” year for AstraZeneca, according to Sarin, with 21 new molecular entities (NMEs) in late-stage development, seven of which are expected to yield Phase III readouts within the next year. Among these are gefurulimab, being trialled in myasthenia gravis (NCT05556096), and efzimfotase alfa, trialled in hypophosphatasia (NCT06079281), the progress of which Sarin attributed to accelerated recruitment rates.
Sarin did, however, note negatively impacted revenues in China given ongoing investigations of AstraZeneca’s operations in the country by authorities. On 30 October 2024, AstraZeneca’s Chinese operations president Leon Wang stood down and was detained along with other current and former employees amidst accusations of insurance fraud, data breaches, and import of unlicenced medicines.
Revenues for AstraZeneca in the US, in comparison, increased by 20% in the first nine months of 2024, comprising 43% of total revenue and are expected to account for half of the company’s revenues by 2030 according to Sarin. She identified respiratory and immunology as the company’s foremost sectors, growing by 39% in Q4 of 2024. Additionally, she said assets like Breztri (budesonide + formoterol fumarate + glycopyrrolate) and Fasenra (benralizumab) are positioned for indication expansion into severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), respectively, during 2025.
Sarin said AstraZeneca’s capital allocation priorities are unchanged for the coming year and that the company remains focussed on antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, and cell therapies, in addition to continuing its foray into the metabolic and gene editing space. Like many other companies that rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic, AstraZeneca has made concerted efforts to break into the obesity market, and has tried going through the deal rout with its potential acquisition agreement with SixPeaks Bio, announced in May 2024.
