The Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca made a profit in its core business of 2.08 dollars per share, up 20 percent on a year.
Sales revenues increased by 18 percent to 13.6 billion dollars.
"Considering the strength of underlying product sales and alliance revenues" the company management raises its forecast for the full year 2024, regarding both revenues and earnings per share in fixed exchange rates, the company writes.
Regarding the investigation into whether employees at Astra Zeneca may have broken laws in China, CEO Pascal Soriot says at an investor conference that the company, and he personally, takes the allegations very seriously.
If requested, we will fully cooperate with the authorities, he says.
However, Astra Zeneca has limited insight into the investigation, according to Soriot.
The company has 17,000 employees in China.
They continue to work hard and focused, he says and adds:
We will continue to invest and invest in China to develop life-changing medicines.
The company's China chief has been arrested by the authorities earlier.
At the same time, the company management announces a major investment in the USA with over a thousand new jobs. A total of 3.5 billion dollars, approximately 40 billion kronor, will be invested in research and more factories.
The company's share price falls by 1.4 percent in the afternoon.
