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 half one and Q2 2026 webinar for investors and analysts. Before I hand over to AstraZeneca, I'd like to read the safe harbour statement. The company intends to utilise the safe harbour 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. Thank you very much. And with that, I'd now like to hand the conference over to the company.

A warm welcome to AstraZeneca's half year and second quarter 2026 presentation conference call and webcast for investors and analysts. I'm Joris Silon, head of investor relations. And before I hand over to Pascal and members of our executive team, I would like to cover some housekeeping items. Firstly, all of the materials presented today are available on our AstraZeneca Investor Relations website. Please advance 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, our 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. Please advance line. This slide shows our agenda for today's call. 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, I will hand over to you.

Thank you, Joris, and welcome, everyone. I'm really pleased to report that in the first half of 26, we saw strong growth momentum and continued pipeline delivery. Total revenue grew 6%, driven by strong demand for our innovative medicines, excluding the impact of Farciga and Brevinta, which are affected by generics, as you know. Total revenue grew 11%. That is a clear demonstration of the underlying strengths of our portfolio, and our broad geographical footprint. We also saw strong growth in core EPS, increasing 11%. In the first half, we announced positive results from six key phase three programs, including three new molecular entities. We secured 30 major market approvals across our diverse portfolio, including the first approvals for two enemies, head comma in breast cancer and backspin in hypertension. and increasing our number of approved NME to 11 since we outlined our target to achieve 20 by 2030. Our confidence in reaching our 2030 target is underpinned by the exceptional quality and momentum of our pipeline together with our proven track record of successful execution and launches. We continue to invest in our pipeline and commercial capabilities to bring innovative medicines to patients around the globe and to support growth through 2030 and beyond. So please move to the next slide. There you can see the breadth of our company remains a key competitive strength. Oncology and rare disease deliver strong double digit growth in the first half, while within biopharmaceuticals, we see continued momentum in respiratory and immunology that help mitigate the expected impact of loss of exclusivity in CVRM, in particular fast cigar and Brilinta. We delivered strong growth in the US, in Europe, and in the emerging markets outside of China. Growth in China was impacted by continued effects from volume-based procurement, and we expect the recent NRDL additions and new regulatory approval in 2026 to fuel future growth. Move to the next slide, please. An important message for today is that when we set our 80 billion revenue ambition for 2030, we did so based on the strengths of a broad and diversified portfolio, not on a single program. As you know very well, the 80 billion is a risk-adjusted forecast. If everything worked, we would be above the 80 billion. So we have, of course, expected setbacks to happen. Unfortunately, the results of the Cardio TTR Transform trial were not what we hoped, and they were disappointing for our team and, most importantly, for the patients we sought to help. This serves as a reminder that transformative science carries an inherent risk and that not every program will succeed. Our pipeline, however, continues to deliver during the first half, with positive results from six high-value phase III programs, including the first pivotal data for three new molecular entities, Tozorakimab in COPD, which we look forward to presenting at ERS, Epsinphotase Alpha in HPP, and as announced today, our first wholly-owned ADC, SonyV, including 18.2 positive gastric cancer. We also received eight major market approvals across important indications, including two additional enemies. We're very happy to see first approvals for EDKAMA in first-line hormone receptor-positive breast cancer with emergent ESR1 mutations in Europe and Japan and a few other countries. These approvals demonstrate the value of this innovative treatment approach, and we continue to have constructive discussions with the US FDA. We also saw USFDA approval for Bax Fendi, which has the potential to transform outcomes for patients with uncontrolled or resistant hypertension, and we continue our launch activities at pace. This, together with the more than 20 approvals we've achieved in the first half of this year, support our continued growth trajectory and strengthen our confidence in delivering the 2030 ambition. And as you will hear today, we're also working very hard and making great progress on our post 2030 growth. And with that, I will hand over to Aradhana to take you through our financials. Please advance to the next slide.