The news came as AstraZeneca reported drug sales fell again in the second quarter, hit by loss of patents on blockbusters like cholesterol pill Crestor.
Despite income from disposals and external deals, first-quarter revenue fell 10 percent in dollar terms to $5.05 billion, while core earnings per share (EPS) rose 5 percent to $87 cents.
Industry analysts, on average, had forecast revenue of $5.0 billion and earnings of 80 cents, according to Thomson Reuters data.
AstraZeneca reiterated its outlook for the full year that revenue would decline at a low to mid single-digit percentage rate, with core EPS dropping by a low to mid-teens percentage.
There was some better news elsewhere, with the company announcing that its lung cancer pill Tagrisso had significantly improved progression-free survival another clinical trial called FLAURA. Soriot said this put the medicine on track to be a product with eventual sales of more than $4 billion a year.
AstraZeneca has also established a strategic oncology collaboration with Merck to study cancer drug combinations using its drug Lynparza, which is already approved for ovarian cancer but could have much wider uses when combined with immunotherapy.
Merck will pay AstraZeneca up to $8.5 billion under the deal, in exchange for half of future Lynparza sales.
