AstraZeneca Announces R&D Cutbacks

Anglo-Swedish multinational drugmaker AstraZeneca posted revenues of US$32.8bn for 2009, a 3% increase on US$31.6bn the previous year. The drugmaker also achieved a staggering 23% rise in core profit to US$13.6bn for 2009, up from US$10.9bn in 2008. Despite posting impressive results, BMI notes that the drugmaker has started experiencing the effects of patent expiries - sales of Nexium declined to US$4.96bn (-1%), Casodex sales declined to US$0.84bn (-34%) and Prilosec sales declined to US$0.95bn (-10%), as a result of generic competition.

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