These results were driven by strong sales of five key growth products, namely Nexium, Seroquel, Crestor, Arimidex, and Symbicort, the combined sales of which grew by 21% in the second quarter, to $3,299 million.
Q2 Nexium sales rose 8% to $1,283 million, Crestor sales were up 51% at $480 million and Symbicort sales reached $308 million, up 25%. Meanwhile, Arimidex sales in the second quarter were $379 million, up 31%, while Seroquel sales were up 28%, to $849 million.
For H1 2006, sales increased 8% on an as reported basis (including a 3 percent adverse impact from currency movements). Sales in the US were up 14%, with sales in other markets up 8%.
Combined sales for the five key growth products were $6,294 million (up 23%) in the first half, on strong performances for Nexium (up 11%), Seroquel (up 29%), Crestor (up 48%), Arimidex (up 34%), and Symbicort (up 24%).
Double-digit sales growth and continued cost discipline resulted in a 28% underlying increase in operating profit. With the divestment gain included, operating profit was up 31%, with a 5.4 percentage point improvement in operating margin (to 32.1 percent of sales) in the first half.
Earnings per share were $1.92, compared with $1.38 last year, an increase of 41%.
The company also said it is on track to meet its financial targets for the full year.