BRITISH drugmaker GSK raised its annual earnings and sales forecasts on Wednesday (Jul 31) and posted second-quarter results that beat market expectations, boosted by its cancer and HIV portfolio.
CEO Emma Walmsley’s bet on cancer and infectious disease drugs and vaccines, including its blockbuster respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Arexvy, has been paying off as the drugmaker aims to counter a combination of patent expiries and declining revenue from current bestsellers by the end of this decade.
However, a US public health agency’s decision in June to narrow the recommended age for use of RSV vaccines and delay the recommendation for adults under 60 had unnerved GSK investors, who had hoped for larger US addressable market.
GSK cut its outlook for 2024 vaccine sales, saying it now expects that business to grow in the low to mid-single digit percentage, from an earlier expectation of high single-digit to low double-digit percentage growth.
Sales of Arexvy stood at £62 million (S$106.8 million) in the quarter, below market expectations of £70 million.
The British drugmaker reported second-quarter core earnings of 43.4 pence per share on sales of £7.88 billion, beating analysts’ average expectations of 38.9 pence earnings per share and £7.51 billion in sales, per a company-compiled consensus.
It now expects 2024 core earnings per share to grow between 10 per cent and 12 per cent, from an earlier forecast of 8 to 10 per cent growth. This is the second time this year it has raised its 2024 profit forecast.
Sales for the year are forecast to rise between 7 per cent and 9 per cent, from a previous range of 5 to 7 per cent growth. REUTERS
