AstraZeneca sets lofty target of $80bn in revenues by 2030

AstraZeneca easily delivered on chief executive Pascal Soriot’s pledge to deliver $45 billion in revenues by 2023, set a decade earlier as he fended off a takeover bid by Pfizer. Now, he thinks that figure can be doubled by 2030.

At the company’s investor day in Cambridge this morning, Soriot said the new target would be achieved thanks to “significant growth “in its existing oncology, biopharmaceuticals, and rare disease portfolio, as well as the launch of 20 new medicines before the end of the decade.

That’s a sizable increase from just a few months ago, when AZ said in its annual results update that it was modelling at least 15 new drug launches in that timeframe, and it now anticipates more than 40 phase 3 trial readouts by the end of next year that could deliver $20 billion in 2030 revenues.

The company is also on track to deliver a percentage core operating margin in the mid-30s by 2026, which will be sustained through the end of the decade, according to Soriot.

Meeting the $45 billion target was helped by the company’s takeover of rare disease specialist Alexion, which added around $7 billion to the total, but Soriot expects to deliver on the new target thanks mainly to a fast-growing pipeline that includes “many” drugs with the potential to clear $5 billion or more in annual sales.

“The breadth of our portfolio together with continued investment in innovation supports sustained growth well past the end of the decade,” he said.

He highlighted several late-stage candidates, including camizestrant for breast cancer, antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) datopotamab deruxtecan for breast and lung cancers, and various other cancer candidates, including new-generation PARP inhibitor saruparib, PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody rilvegostomig, and PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific volrustomig.

Also in the spotlight were the baxdrostat franchise for high blood pressure and fixed-dose combinations based on dapagliflozin, the active ingredient in AZ’s Farxiga/Forxiga product for cardiorenal diseases that is currently in the last few years of its patent life.

Meanwhile, Soriot also indicated that AZ intends to stake a claim to the burgeoning weight-loss market, building on its experience with GLP-1 agonists and drugs acting via amylin and glucagon pathways.

Green promise

AZ has also made sustainability a cornerstone of its business, and during the update Soriot reiterated that the intention is to “decouple” the group’s carbon emissions from its planned increase in revenues.

Its goals are to achieve a 98% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions – those under its direct control – with a 50% reduction in Scope 3 from external sources by 2030. Scope 1 and 2 emissions have already fallen 68% from their 2015 levels, according to the company.

Last year, AZ announced that it is funding a $400 million reforestation programme that it says will help to remove its “residual emissions” from the atmosphere from 2030 onwards.