Covid-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca's sales surged in the six months before its £27.5bn deal to acquire American drug company Alexion was completed, new figures have revealed.
The group, which developed the vaccine with Oxford University, has reported a total revenue of $15.5bn for the first half of 2021, a rise of 23%.
Its revenue, excluding the Covid-19 vaccine, also increased 14% to $14.3bn.
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The firm, whose sites are spread across Cheshire, Cambridge and Bedfordshire, also saw a growth in oncology of 19% to $6.3bn and respiratory and immunology rose 11% to $2.9bn.
There was also an increase in emerging markets of 26% to $5.4bn.
Chief executive Pascal Soriot said: "AstraZeneca has delivered another period of strong growth thanks to robust performances across all regions and disease areas, particularly Oncology, New CVRM and Fasenra in Respiratory.
"As a result, we have delivered further earnings progression, supported ongoing launches, and continued our investment in R&D.
"We continue to advance our portfolio of life-changing medicines with further significant progress across disease areas.
"In Oncology, we recently presented Lynparza's OlympiA Phase III trial at the plenary session of the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, and we also shared the final results from Calquence's head-to-head trial with ibrutinib.
"In BioPharmaceuticals, the US approved Farxiga for chronic kidney disease and granted tezepelumab Priority Review to treat patients with asthma.
"Alexion will enable us to enhance our pipeline, extending the Company's presence in rare diseases and immunology with its complement biology.
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"Following the successful acquisition of Alexion, we are today updating our full-year 2021 guidance; our long-term goals to accelerate scientific discovery, invest for sustainable growth and deliver more benefits for patients remains unchanged."
