AstraZeneca’s medium-term future causes worry among investors

AstraZeneca’s medium-term prospects have been causing unrest among some investors following a series of high-profile late-stage new product withdrawals and question marks over the future of Nexium sales.

Last week, the UK’s second largest pharmaceutical company announced disappointing clinical trial results for NXY-059, a treatment for stroke. The drug failed to show sufficient efficacy, even though AstraZeneca had hoped that NXY-059 might have had the potential to offer a major new treatment option.

Furthermore, the company has withdrawn Galida and Exanta from development during the last year, meaning that its late-stage product pipeline for its own proprietary drugs is looking barren in comparison to its rivals.

One fund manager, Anne Marieke Ezendam, manager of the Threadneedle Global Healthcare Fund, told the Wall Street Journal that she sold all of her stock in AstraZeneca when American health insurer United Healthcare decided to stop buying Nexium, the heartburn drug.

She said that the company might struggle to persuade other US health insurers to stick with the drug.

However, AstraZeneca has taken several steps to bolster its product pipeline, including the acquisition of Cambridge Antibody Technology.

In recent months, AstraZeneca has announced collaborations with Abbott Laboratories and Schering AG, as well as several partnerships with smaller research companies.