AstraZeneca in make-or-break campaign for cholesterol drug

AstraZeneca has begun the make or break marketing push for its new cholesterol lowering drug in the US market, pricing the product at a discount to rivals and beginning consumer advertising on the internet.

AstraZeneca has begun the make or break marketing push for its new cholesterol lowering drug in the US market, pricing the product at a discount to rivals and beginning consumer advertising on the internet.

The company - the UK's second largest pharmaceuticals group - was given regulatory approval for the drug, Crestor, by the US Food & Drug Administration late on Tuesday. Its shares were among the best performers in the FTSE 100, closing 47 points higher at 2,536p.

Investors were particularly cheered by the wording of the safety label demanded by the FDA. This gives doctors discretion to start prescribing Crestor at any dose and does not require monitoring of patients' kidneys despite earlier fears that Crestor may impair renal function.

AstraZeneca began printing labels and packaging within hours of the long-awaited FDA approval and said that Crestor could be on US pharmacy shelves in just 10 days.

Adele Gulfo, vice president of AstraZeneca's US cardiovascular business, said that Crestor would be pitched as a more effective alternative to existing products in what is already a highly competitive market for the prevention of heart disease.

The global market for cholesterol-lowering drugs is worth an estimated $22bn (£13.7bn) this year, with the US accounting for $13bn.

Ms Gulfo said: "We know that of patients who are most at risk of a heart attack, less than 20 per cent are at their cholesterol goal. Based on clinical trial data, we believe that Crestor lowers cholesterol more than other products on the market, and also gives a significant increase in HDL, which is the good cholesterol."

AstraZeneca has promised to spend "whatever it takes" to market Crestor, whose success is vital if it is to return to profit growth now that it faces copycat competition to Losec, the ulcer drug which was once the world's biggest selling medicine but whose sales have now fallen away.

Luisa Betts, pharmaceuticals analyst at Lehman Brothers, worried that this promise would mean AstraZeneca switching marketing resources to the detriment of other big selling products, including its newer ulcer drug Nexium.

The company will face "entrenched competition" from Pfizer with its Lipitor and Merck, whose cholesterol lowering product is called Zocor, Ms Betts said. "These two companies currently claim 83 per cent of the value of the US market and between them have three times the marketing scale and budget of AstraZeneca. Our contention has always been that the cost of penetrating this market successfully may be higher than generally envisaged."