Zyprexa

Anderson, who has a "neutral" weighting on AstraZeneca shares, wrote generic competition would "cut sharply" into the $1.6 billion in U.S.

sales of Toprol-XL he forecast for 2006.Assuming a mid-2006 launch of generics of Toprol-XL, AstraZeneca's earnings per share could drop 3 percent in 2006, and by 5 percent in 2007, Anderson said.

He forecasts 2006 earnings per share at $3.35 and $3.54 in 2007.

The company is scheduled to report 2005 earnings Feb.

2.The ruling does not affect AstraZeneca's patents on the drug outside the United States, where the drug is sold as Seloken.

The vast majority of Seloken/Toprol-XL sales come from the U.S.

market.But not everyone who follows AstraZeneca was as concerned about the company's prospects.C...

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