AstraZeneca PLC

Good morning to those joining from the UK and the US. Good afternoon to those in Central Europe and good evening to those listening in Asia. Welcome to AstraZeneca's Q1 2026 webinar for investors and analysts. Before I hand over to AstraZeneca, I'd like to read the Safe Harbor Statement. The company intends to utilize the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Participants on this call may make forward-looking statements with respect to the operations and financial performance of AstraZeneca. Although we believe our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, by their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and may be influenced by factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements made on this call reflect the knowledge and information available at the time of this call. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements. Please carefully review the forward-looking statements disclaimer in the slide deck that accompanies this presentation and webcast. There will be an opportunity to ask questions after today's presentation. Please use the raise a hand feature to indicate you wish to ask a question at any time during the call. And with that, I'll now hand you over to the company.

A warm welcome to AstraZeneca's first quarter 2026 presentation, conference call, and webcast for investors and analysts. I'm Joris Silom, head of investor relations, and before I hand over to Pascal and the members of our executive team, I would like to cover some housekeeping items. All of the materials presented today are available on our AstraZeneca investor relations website. Next slide. This slide contains our forward-looking statements, including the safe harbor provisions, which I would encourage you to take the time to read. We will be making comments on our performance using constant exchange rates, or CER, core financial numbers, and other non-GAAP measures. A non-GAAP to GAAP reconciliation is contained within the results announcement. All numbers quoted are in millions of US dollars unless stated otherwise. Next slide, please. This slide shows our agenda for today's COP. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. As usual, we will try to address as many questions as we can during the allocated time. Although, please limit the number of questions you ask to allow others a fair chance to participate in the Q&A. And with that, please advance to the next slide, and Pascal, over to you.

Thank you, Joyce, and welcome, everyone. Next slide, please. We delivered a full first quarter, building on the momentum we generated in 2025. Total revenue grew 8% in the quarter, supported by robust demand for innovative medicines. We saw strong growth in operating profit, which increased 12%, reflecting our ongoing focus on operating leverage. Core EPS grew 5%. Our EPS growth was held back by the low tax rate in the prior period. Since our Q4 2025 results, we have secured 14 approvals in major regions across our diverse portfolio. a clear illustration of the value our medicines bring to patients globally. Additionally, we continue to see strong delivery from our pipeline. In the past weeks, we announced results from four positive phase 3 programs, including two NMEs, Tozorakimab and Epsymfotate Alpha. We continue to invest in our commercial capabilities, both to support ongoing launches, and multiple future launches such as Baxrostat, Commises France, and Tozorakimab. In R&D, we continue to invest in our pipeline, including our transformative technologies. Please move to the next slide. The breadth of our business remains a competitive strength, with a solid growth outlook across therapy areas and key markets. Oncology and rare disease show strong double-disk growth, while high demand in R&I was offset by loss of exclusivity in CVRM. We saw strong performances across our key regions. Our largest market, the United States, grew at a double-digit percentage, benefiting from our investment behind recent launches, with Europe and emerging markets growing at high single digits. Importantly, we continue to deliver impressive growth in the emerging markets, with ex-China revenues up 9%, reflecting the benefit of our sustained presence in this market. Revenues in China increased by 2%, with VBP implementation impacting for SIGA, Limpaza and Roxadustat growth. We are confident in our growth outlook in China, based on the positive 2026 and RDL outcomes. Next slide, please. In the first quarter, we saw a continuation of the successful clinical trial delivery seen in 2025. We announced four positive high-value programs, reinforcing the continued progress we are making towards our 2030 ambition and beyond. We look forward to discussing the significant potential of this readout during this call. And with that, I will hand over to Arana to take you through our financials. Please advance to the next slide.