AstraZeneca (AZN) reported a second-quarter earnings beat, raising their full-year guidance due to strong demand. However, the company faced some pressure in areas like operating costs. AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot joins Yahoo Finance senior health reporter Anjalee Khemlani on Catalysts to discuss the report.
Soriot attributes the high costs to investments in R&D, explaining that they’re investing in their pipeline and future technologies to "shape the future of medicine." He notes these investments will slow in the second half as they come to fruition, stating, "we are very much on track, in fact we’re above what we expected in the beginning of the year."
Expansion plans include investing in manufacturing, new technologies, and antibody research. Soriot outlines their outlook for cancer treatment: "Our vision for cancer is really to attack…the tumor," "break down the tumor, shrink it, bring it to a lower level of intensity and then bring in…therapy," which he believes could lead to cures for some patients, though he cautions this will take time and research.
Regarding the potential impact of US elections on operations, particularly in China, Soriot emphasizes AstraZeneca’s global presence: "We operate in almost every country in the world." He notes that they "adapt to every environment we are in," regardless of political outcomes. "Our focus is really delivering medicines to patients," he states, while highlighting that US and China supply chains are completely separate.
"I think it’s important for Americans to remember that the US is the country where people access innovation the fastest in the world… and so American citizens have access to innovative medicines much earlier than everybody else in the world," he told Yahoo Finance.
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