AstraZeneca has reported a significant boost in sales for the first half of 2026, driven primarily by strong demand for its cancer and rare disease treatments, even as the pharmaceutical giant increased its investment in new research.
The Cambridge-based firm saw total revenues climb 6% at constant exchange rates to $30.67 billion (£22.99 billion).
Its oncology division, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, was a key performer, with sales surging 15 per cent to $14.12 billion (£10.59 billion). This segment now accounts for almost half of the group's entire sales.
Demand for specific cancer medicines like Tagrisso and Imfinzi was particularly robust, with the majority of these sales originating from the United States.
The rare diseases division also contributed significantly, experiencing an 11 per cent year-on-year revenue increase at constant exchange rates, making up 16 per cent of AstraZeneca's total sales.
This helped to offset an 11 per cent drop in sales of Farxiga, a medicine used to treat kidney disease, heart failure and type 2 diabetes.
AstraZeneca is expecting its revenues to increase by around 5 per cent to 9 per cent over the full year.
It also pointed to an increasing number of drug trials and patients in those trials, as well as investment into transformative technologies in recent months.
Chief executive Pascal Soriot said: “We continue to invest at pace in our transformative technologies and in our commercial execution to bring our innovative medicines to patients around the globe and drive growth beyond 2030.”
AstraZeneca, which has its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange, sells medicines in more than 125 countries which are used by millions of patients worldwide.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research for Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Encouragingly, improving margins aren’t coming at the expense of investment in the company’s future growth engine, with underlying R&D (research and development) spending ticking up another 5 per cent to 3.7 billion US dollars (£2.8 billion) – a healthy 24 per cent of revenues.
“Clinical failures are part and parcel of drug development, but 30 approvals in major regions since the full-year results are an impressive number and suggest AstraZeneca’s research pipeline still has a strong heartbeat.”
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