Zyprexa

Deutsche Bank, which acts as broker to the company, said that losing the Toprol XL patent could reduce earnings per share by 10 and 9 percent respectively in 2006 and 2007, although the outlook from 2008 would be unchanged.

Sales of Toprol XL are expected to total around $1.29 billion in 2005, or around 5 percent of the group total.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which believes generic manufacturers could launch their products imminently, said the setback would be taken negatively by investors.

Results in focus Mark Purcell of Deutsche said it might remove some expectation that the company could provide significant earnings upgrades at the full year results, on Feb.

2.

But he argued the patent defeat was not overly negative, with a discounted cashflow impact of about 30 pence per share.

"Approval (for generic Toprol XL) may well still take some time and this is AstraZeneca's biggest product from a unit volume perspective, so the generics may not have enough capacity to affect a rapid generic erosion as might be expected by investors," he added.

AstraZeneca argues its exclusivity on Toprol XL should hold until September 2007, when the U.S.

patents expire.

But incoming Chief Executive David Brennan told Reuters in an interview last year ...

But incoming Chief Executive David Brennan told Reuters in an inte...

Deutsche Bank, which acts as broker to the company, said that losing the Toprol XL patent could reduce earnings per share by 10 and 9 percent respectively in 2006 and 2007, although the outlook from 2008 would be unchanged.

Sales of Toprol XL are expected to total around $1.29 billion in 2005, or around 5 percent of the group total.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which believes generic manufacturers could launch their products imminently, said the setback would be taken negatively by investors.

RESULTS IN FOCUS Continued ...

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