AstraZeneca rides a rocket to stockmarket stars

The financials are registered in dollars rather than sterling so total revenue was up 11 per cent to $28,045 million - driven by double-digit growth in Oncology and BioPharmaceuticals - while the business achieved growth in total revenue across all major geographic regions.

Its core operating profit rose 13 per cent, core EPS 17 per cent to $4.66 and the interim dividend was hoisted three per cent to $1.03 (76.7 pence).

During the period under review AstraZeneca notched 12 positive Phase III readouts and 19 approvals in major regions.

CEO Pascal Soriot said: "Our strong momentum in revenue growth continued through the first half of the year and the delivery from our broad and diverse pipeline has been excellent, with 12 positive key Phase III trial readouts including for baxdrostat, gefurulimab, and Tagrisso in just the past few weeks.

"As we enter our next phase of growth, we have pledged $50 billion to continue to grow in the US, which includes the largest manufacturing investment in AstraZeneca's history, set for Virginia. This landmark investment reflects not only America's importance but also our confidence in our innovative medicines to transform global health and power AstraZeneca's ambition to deliver $80 billion revenue by 2030."

AstraZeneca is also investing billions of dollars in new research capability in Beijing (and China generally) as well as continuing to grow its Cambridge UK headquarters at the Biomedical Campus.

The company is planning, according to well informed sources, to quit the UK stockmarket as it expands facilities and research elsewhere worldwide but confirmation is awaited.