From CBS Market Watch 7/9/02
LONDON (FT Investor) - Shares in AstraZeneca (UK:AZN: news, chart, profile) were sharply higher on Tuesday after then Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said that latest research showed its anti-cholesterol drug was better than the current best-selling treatment.
AstraZeneca was 3.4 per cent higher at £27.07 in Tuesday morning trade in London, leading the FTSE 100 gainers list, but closed only 1 per cent up at £26.46 as eighth highest gainer.
Speaking at the European Atherosclerosis Society congress in Salzburg, Austria, AstraZeneca (AZN: news, chart, profile) said that new data showed its experimental cholesterol drug, Crestor was better than Pfizer's (PFE: news, chart, profile) Lipitor, which is currently the biggest-selling medicine for this type of illness.
Europe's second-largest drugmaker said that tests from three studies indicated that 82 per cent of patients with moderately raised cholesterol reduced the amount of harmful cholesterol substances to recommended levels using Crestor. It said only 51 per cent of patients taking Lipitor showed the same result.
AstraZeneca said Crestor cut LDL cholesterol levels - harmful cholesterol - by about 47 per cent after 12 weeks of treatment while Lipitor registered the success rate of only 36 per cent.
The current market for cholesterol treatments is worth an estimated $15bn but this is expected to rise to $37m by 2005 as some studies show that more patients than expected benefit from treatment.
AstraZeneca has concentrated on marketing the benefits of Crestor in a search for a new bestseller as sales of its blockbuster ulcer pill Losec are expected to drop once its cheaper generic competitors have hit the market.
Nerma Jelacic is a reporter for FT.com Markets in London. |
