Got a good line of products, but the share price seem to go down , could it be due to the weak us dollar.

Council Recommends Approval of CRESTOR in Japan
Monday December 27, 8:25 am ET


WILMINGTON, Del., Dec. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - News) announced today that the Pharmaceuticals Affairs Council has recommended that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) approve CRESTOR (rosuvastatin) in Japan at a dose range of 2.5-20 mg for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia. The Council's recommendation is contingent on final agreement of a post-marketing surveillance program. The recommended starting dose of 2.5 mg is in line with normal clinical practice in Japan where, compared to the western world, lower dose ranges of drugs, including statins, are made available.
Once pricing and reimbursement have been agreed, AstraZeneca, in partnership with Shionogi, will initiate the marketing of CRESTOR with the agreed post-marketing surveillance program to confirm its benefit-risk profile in the Japanese setting prior to a full-scale launch.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, resulting in approximately 15 million deaths globally each year. There are 150,000 deaths annually from CVD in Japan alone and the incidence of dyslipidaemia is increasing in this population.

Elevated LDL-C and low levels of HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C or "good" cholesterol) are established major risk factors for CVD and there is overwhelming evidence that a greater reduction of LDL-C is accompanied by a greater reduction in CV events. However, up to 40 percent of patients with dyslipidaemia in Japan are still not achieving their cholesterol treatment goals described in the Japanese guidelines and remain at an unnecessary risk of CVD.

CRESTOR is the most effective statin at lowering LDL-C, with the added benefit of increasing HDL-C, enabling more patients to reach their LDL-C treatment goals than other available statins.

CRESTOR has now received regulatory approvals in 68 countries, across five continents and has been launched in over 50 countries worldwide, including 19 European markets, the US and Canada. Almost 4 million patients have been prescribed CRESTOR and 14.5 million prescriptions have been written worldwide. Safety data from the post-marketing experience supports the favorable benefit: risk profile of CRESTOR and confirms that the safety profile is in line with other currently marketed statins.

AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of over $18.8 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience and respiratory products. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index


http://uk.us.biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041227/phm001_1.html

This share is now trading on a PE around 14. It is now much cheaper than Glaxo, for the first time in a long time.

It is very undervalued at present because of the concerns of the safety of Crestor, but sentiment can turn very quickly with this ultra volatile share.

From the chart it is bounce or bust time, but the bounce may have already happened as it hit an intraday low of 1839p just before christmas and closed at 1890p today.

I"m in at this price and, with results due in late january, a new chairman coming and Crestor to be approved in Japan in mid January this looks good short term.

The 18.00 level looks like put up or shut up to me :-)
Will watch patiently....

Should outperform the sector in the next 6 months and one of the picks in the FTSE 100 at this PE and given the likelihood of investor sentiment coming back into pharmas. IMHO it is unquestionably cheap and will be back trading at around 2000 before this month is out.Crestor RNS will confirm Japan licence mid January and then it can concentrate on global - a serious chance of this being a real blockbuster.

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2005/01/08twostudiesoffer.html

Results due on thursday, someone bought 7 million this morning and a similiar amount on friday.
It is vulnerable to a takeover bid perhaps ?

Stubax
That is what I noticed on Friday and today.7m each time and paid over the offer price. Could this be stakebuilding excercise or somebody is very confident about the outcome of results on thursday. After all who would spend nearly 261m in 2 trading days?
Makes you think!

Looks like someone was confident about the outcome of the results. Have sold.

worth a read

http://yahoo.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2005/tc2005027_1171_tc119.htm

A share that actually rises on ex. divi day...up 5p so far.

analysts have raised their forecasts recently and are looking at a price target of 23

Thanks Roro,

In that case I'll stick In there for a bit longer. Now up 10p.

Much obliged.

now up (34+18)52p. I think something is cooking here! Ratio of sells to buys is 2:1. We will know at the close if there are some big buy orders are pending to be executed.

You may well be right hjs but I've taken the profit just to be on the safe side.

FDA clears AstraZeneca's Crestor

AstraZeneca said that the US Food and Drug Administration has formally denied Public Citizen's Health Research Group's (HRG) petition to remove its Crestor cholesterol drug from the market.

The FDA's rejection of HRG's petition was based on an analysis of clinical trial safety data and post-marketing data, the company said.

The response letter from the FDA stated that all of the available evidence indicates that CRESTOR does not pose a risk of muscle toxicity greater than the other approved statins, and that with respect to renal toxicity, there is no convincing evidence that Crestor poses a serious risk of renal injury, AstraZeneca added.

Broker note from Matrix:
"AstraZeneca - we were looking for EPS Q$ US$1.52 AZN delivered US$1.42. Sales showed a decline in Q4 (because of generic competition to Toprol XL). Guidance for EPS full year is US$5.75 to 6.15 (we expected a range of US$6.,0 to 6.20...) there are likely to be downgrades given consensus is on US$6.00 like us but there are uncertainties surrounding further generic competition which is due to arrive this year. Company has guided to a mid single digit revenue decline and has stated that operating margins (pre R&D) are under pressure.
On the positive side - the company is now in a net cash position from net debt of US$7.1bn at the end of 2008

We still have the Stock at 2806 TP with a SELL recommendation. My feeling is a lot of people will be hiding in this stock for yield and with the recent competitor upgrades we could see some adjustment down of estimates from the street down to closer to our levels."

Trading statement due Thursday -
AstraZeneca will update the market on its third-quarter trading. Consensus figures suggest that analysts are expecting revenues of $8.2bn (5.1bn) compared to $7.9bn last time and pre-tax profits of $4bn compared to $2.26bn last time.

The City will be looking for signs of how sales of Astra's key brands such as cholesterol fighting Crestor are holding up.

Analysts will also be interested to hear about progress of the drug maker's new blood-thinning medicine, Brilinta.

JP Morgan Cazenove analysts were not predicting a particularly eventful set of results. They said that discussions are "likely to centre around how much of the AstraTech proceeds would be left for share buybacks in 2012 and Astra's future expectations for Crestor ahead of generic Lipitor in November 2011".

1st Quarter Results.

Pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca will release its second-quarter statement on Thursday. Consensus estimates are for $6,800m of sales and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.40 in the three-month period. "Further cost cutting should support the near-term dividend, however we see a risk of EPS downgrades as AZN diverts money from share buybacks to pay for assets to refill the sales line," said analysts at Credit Suisse

PFIZER SENDS LETTER TO RT HON DAVID CAMERON MP

FIZER SENDS LETTER TO RT HON DAVID CAMERON MP
REGARDING COMMITMENTS IF PROPOSED COMBINATION WITH ASTRAZENECA IS COMPLETED


• Establishing the combined company's corporate and tax residence in England
• Substantial R&D innovation hub in Cambridge to be completed
• Key scientific leadership in the UK
• 20% of the combined company's total R&D workforce in the UK going forward
• Substantial commercial manufacturing facilities retained at Macclesfield
• European Business Headquarters and European Regulatory Headquarters to be located in the UK
• At least two AstraZeneca Board Members to join combined company's Board
• Board Meetings to be held in the UK as appropriate and meaningful participation in the UK commercial, economic and social community


Statement re Possible Offer

PFIZER CONFIRMS DELIVERY OF INCREASED PROPOSAL TO ASTRAZENECA

· Proposal represents a substantial premium of 32% for AstraZeneca shareholders[1]
· Proposal represents a 39% premium to the closing price of £35.86 on 3 January 2014, being the trading day immediately prior to the date of Pfizer's January proposal
· AstraZeneca shareholders would receive, for each AstraZeneca share, 1.845 shares in the combined company and 1,598 pence in cash, representing an indicative value of £50.00 ($84.47) per share[2]