AstraZeneca plc has posted net profit of $808 million during the fourth quarter ended December 2015 as against a loss of $321 million in the corresponding period of last year. Its sales declined by 4.7 per cent to $6,399 million from $6,716 million. EPS improved to $0.63 from negative $0.25 in the last period.

For the full year ended December 2015, AstraZeneca sales declined by 9.4 per cent to $23.6 billion from $26.1 billion in the previous year. Its net profit went up by 129 per cent to $2.8 billion from $1.2 billion and EPS worked out to $2.23 as compared to $0.98 in the last year. Its US and Europe sales declined by 6 per cent to $9.5 billion and $5.3 billion respectively during 2015.

Its US sales declined due to the entry of Nexium generic products from February 2015. Nexium sales in the US declined by 52 per cent to $902 million. Similarly, Synagis sales declined by 43 per cent to $285 million. However, favorable performance were delivered by Brilinta, Farxiga, Bydureon and Lynparza as well as the acquired respiratory medicines Tudorza, Daliresp and, Tagrisso. Its sales in Japan increased by 4 per cent to $2 billion with strong sales growth of Crestor by 8 per cent to $468 million. Its sales in Canada also moved up 4 per cent to $533 million and its sales in China moved up 15 per cent to $2.5 billion and that in Brazil grew by 16 per cent to $381 million.   

Pascal Soriot, CEO, said, “We delivered a strong pipeline and financial performance in 2015 as we begin the next phase in our strategic journey. The Growth Platforms delivered a 11 per cent rise in product sales that, along with the 7 per cent increase in Core EPS, demonstrated the underlying strength of our business. Our culture of innovation continued to drive R&D productivity, with six regulatory approvals in the year. This momentum will continue in 2016 as we anticipate six regulatory submissions and around ten major data readouts. We strengthened the strategic importance of Oncology, bringing to patients next-generation therapies such as Tagrisso in lung cancer and Lynparza in ovarian cancer, as well as a promising immuno-oncology pipeline. Alongside this organic progress, we also continued to invest in our main therapy areas through key agreements with Acerta Pharma, ZS Pharma, and Takeda.”

“As we face the transitional period of patent expiry for crestor in the US, we're confident that our strong execution on strategy, combined with the benefits of focused investments and new launches, keeps us on track to return to sustainable growth in line with our targets.” He added.  

The company projected single digit declined in sales in current year 2016 and lower core earnings per share. The guidance assumes the loss of exclusivity for Crestor in the US from May 2016. Core R&D costs are expected to be at a similar level to FY2015.