Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca on Thursday raised its sales and profit forecast for 2024 and topped analyst expectations for second-quarter revenue, buoyed by demand for its therapies for cancer and rare diseases.

Sales in the company's top business, oncology, grew 19% at constant currency rates to $5.33 billion and accounted for 41% of the total, while other divisions, such as rare diseases and respiratory and immunology, also raked in double-digit growth.

AstraZeneca's drug pipeline has evolved significantly under CEO Pascal Soriot since he took over more than a decade ago, and new technologies such as antibody-drug conjugates are making up a rising proportion of its portfolio of future cancer therapies.

"In the year to date we have continued to make encouraging progress with several disruptive technologies ... all of which have the potential to drive our growth beyond 2030," CEO Soriot said.

AstraZeneca now expects both 2024 revenue and core earnings per share to increase by a mid-teens percentage at constant currency rates.

The company previously expected revenue and profit to increase by a low double-digit to low-teens percentage.

Analysts, on average, currently expect 2024 EPS of $8.11 and revenue of $51.62 billion - translating to growth of about 11.7% and 12.7%, respectively, according to LSEG IBES data.

Total revenue rose 17% on a constant-currency basis to $12.94 billion for the three months ended June, while core earnings came in at $1.98 per share for the largest London-listed company by market value.

Analysts, on average, were expecting profit of $1.98 per share on revenue of $12.6 billion for the quarter, according to a company-compiled consensus.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)