Matej Mikulic
Research expert covering health, pharma & medtech
AstraZeneca - Statistics & Facts
In 2024, British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca generated a total revenue of 54 billion U.S. dollars, the sixth consecutive year with significant growth. The largest therapeutic area is oncology, responsible for more than a third of the company’s total revenue. Accordingly, one of AstraZeneca’s best-selling products is Tagrisso, a lung cancer treatment. Tagrisso generated a total revenue of 6.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Other top products are Farxiga, Imfinzi, Soliris, and Symbicort. Interestingly, although in global focus during 2020-2021 due to its COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca was previously not among the leading vaccine manufacturers. In fact, only with the pandemic has the company initiated a more profound involvement in the area of vaccines and immune therapies.
High R&D intensity as a company trait
Within big pharma, AstraZeneca is among the companies with the largest investment in research and development in relation to revenues. AstraZeneca spends well above 20 percent – in some years even nearly 30 percent – of its revenues on R&D projects. In 2023, the company’s R&D expenditures stood at 13.6 billion euros. As a consequence, AstraZeneca is among the companies with the highest number of originated drugs and also has one of the largest R&D pipelines worldwide.The COVID-19 vaccine
In 2020, AstraZeneca became well-known due to its highly promising COVID-19 vaccine. Code-named AZD1222, the vaccine was the most pre-ordered COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, by far. The vaccine was originally developed at the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute. In April 2020, the two parties announced a partnership that saw AstraZeneca take responsibility for the trials, production, marketing, and logistics. The company declared that the vaccine would be sold at cost price. Additionally, the vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage, which is different from some of the other vaccines available. Therefore, AZD1222 (later sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria) was especially attractive for countries without an existing ultra-cold supply chain, as well as for developing countries.Targets are set high
With 13 products generating over one billion U.S. dollars annually, the company has a very robust and broad portfolio. AstraZeneca itself states that the aim is to launch 20 new products and to reach 80 billion U.S. dollars in revenue by 2030.Matej Mikulic
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Mar 7, 2025
Matej Mikulic
Research expert covering health, pharma & medtech
