London (AFP) - British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca announced Friday a 23-percent jump in net profit for the third quarter and a new programme aiming for annual savings of $1.5 billion.

Profit after tax increased to $3.12 billion in the July-September period compared with the third quarter of last year thanks in large part to its cancer treatments, Britain’s biggest drugs company said in a statement.

Welcoming also a rise in revenue, chief executive Pascal Soriot said AstraZeneca had “multiple potential blockbuster” drugs in late-stage development.

Its savings programme will cost $2.0 billion before delivering the desired yearly benefits.

“AstraZeneca is in a catalyst-rich period with more than 180 pipeline projects driving its next wave of growth and scientific innovation,” the company said.

“To capitalise on this opportunity, the company has initiated the Reshaping for Sustainable Growth programme to… invest behind its industry-leading pipeline and transformative technologies.”

AstraZeneca said the savings generated would be reinvested into the drugs pipeline.

- Jobs shakeup -

“There’ll be job losses,” AstraZeneca chief financial officer Aradhana Sarin told a call with media when asked about the restructuring.

However “it won’t lead to a net reduction in jobs”, she insisted.

“We still have big ambitions…. It may be different types of jobs or jobs in different areas and so forth,” Sarin said.

Soriot said in the results statement that the group continues “to invest in AI technology to tackle complex diseases”.

Later speaking to journalists, he added: “The $1.5-billion reinvestment and savings will be mostly reinvested… you don’t spend $1.5 billion without creating jobs.”

AstraZeneca revealed that group revenue grew seven percent to a record $16.2 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier, with oncology accounting for 48 percent of the total.

The company said it remained on track to meet a 2030 target of $80 billion in group annual revenue, up from nearly $59 billion last year.

It predicts sales in the United States to account for half of the target.

Increasingly pivoting to the US market, AstraZeneca in February began listing its shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange to attract more investors.

However it remains headquartered in the UK and has kept its primary share listing in London.

The group added Friday that net profit reached $8.7 billion for the first nine months of the year.

Following the updates, AstraZeneca’s share price jumped 6.7 percent in afternoon deals on the London stock exchange, where the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up only slightly overall.

“AstraZeneca shares rallied… as the company announced plans to restructure,” noted Neil Wilson, investor strategist at Saxo UK.

The group is also increasing its focus on China and earlier this year said it would invest $15 billion in the country by 2030 to expand manufacturing and research.

Alongside its blockbuster cancer drugs, AstraZeneca has also been developing a weight-loss treatment, given the popularity of GLP-1 drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro.

“We’re not focused on people losing weight for the pleasure of it,” Soriot told the media call.

“We focus on the medical need,” he stressed.

AstraZeneca revealed earlier this year that it had struck a deal with Chinese group CSPC Pharmaceutical to help develop and market weight-loss injections, which have exploded in popularity in recent years.