New drugs boost AstraZeneca
A RECENT diabetes deal and a pipeline of new drugs for other diseases have put AstraZeneca back on track for growth, it said yesterday.
Britain’s second biggest drugs company cheered investors by saying it expected sales to return to 2013 levels by 2017 as it recovered from the impact of top-selling products losing patent protection.
The recent £2.4billion deal to buy Bristol-Myers Squibb’s share of a diabetes joint venture will have an immediate impact.
Chief executive Pascal Soriot also told a US industry conference it was accelerating its progress in key areas such as cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
It had 11 products in late stage Phase 3 trials, double the number a year ago, and 27 in Phase 2 programmes.
Analysts lifted their forecasts, sending shares 92p higher to 3755½p.