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| David Brennan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca effective 1 January 2006. From 2001 until his appointment to CEO, David Brennan was President and Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca LP, the Company’s North America subsidiary. He was appointed Executive Board Director of AstraZeneca in 2005, with responsibility for the United States, the company’s largest market, as well as all North American operations. |
AstraZeneca Plc,
the U.K.'s second- largest drugmaker, said today that fourth-quarter profit rose
33 percent, boosted by sales of Seroquel for schizophrenia and more cost
reductions in the absence of new medicines.
Net income increased to $1.22
billion, or 77 cents a share, from $923 million, or 55 cents a share,
AstraZeneca said.
The drugs firm whose Exanta
blood thinner was rejected by the US FDAin 2004, is reducing research costs
in the absence of new products to sell. AstraZeneca undertook a number of
acquisitions in December, adding late-stage experimental medicines
as challenges to a number of patents threaten the profitability of Seroquel
and the ulcer treatment Nexium, which account for 30 percent of sales.
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Sales for the full year increased
by 10 percent to $23,950 million.
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Operating profit increased by 39 percent
to $6,502 million as a result of the strong sales growth and the impact of
ongoing productivity gains. Operating margin for the year increased to 27.2
percent.
AstraZeneca product portfolio now has 10
products with annual sales of $1 billion or greater.
Strong performance from five key
products (NexiumTM, SeroquelTM, CrestorTM, Arimidex and Symbicort), with combined sales reaching $10,849 million, up 27 percent for the
full year.
Supplemental New Drug Application
submitted to US FDA in December for a new indication for Seroquel for the treatment of depressive episodes associated with
bipolar disorder.
Development pipeline
strengthened. Four new chemical entities have been entered into Phase III
development.
Development pipeline augmented by three
licensing transactions (one Phase III compound and two Phase II compounds) and
the acquisition of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals announced in December.
Dividend increased by 38 percent to
$1.30 for the full year.
Free cash flow of $6,052 million for the
full year. Share repurchases totalled $3,001 million in 2005. Share repurchases
in 2006 are expected to be at a similar level.
The Company anticipates EPS for 2006 in
the range of $3.40 to $3.60. This includes around 45 cents of earnings related
to Toprol-XLTM for
the remaining eleven months of 2006.
David Brennan, Chief Executive Officer, said
: “Strong growth from our key products and further
improvements in efficiency have contributed to AstraZeneca’s
excellent financial performance. The output from
our discovery organization has grown, and new medicines from both
our own and external research have
entered late stage development, including those from recent
licensing transactions. However we will do more to
further strengthen our product pipeline, and this is my number one
priority.”
