AstraZeneca raises earnings forecast

AstraZeneca raised its earnings forecast for the year yesterday in the absence of any competition for its giant-selling ulcer drug, Losec, although falling sales of the product led to a drop in profits in the third quarter.

AstraZeneca is trying to switch Losec users to a second generation product, Nexium, before copycat drugs come on the market, perhaps as early as next March. Losec sales fell 16 per cent to $1.2bn (£790m) in the three months to 30 September.

A US court judgment earlier this month barred most generic drug makers from selling their versions of Losec, which were deemed to infringe AstraZeneca's patents on the way the drug is made. The ruling sent the generics industry into turmoil since the only company that was deemed not to infringe patents, Schwarz of Germany, is barred by other legal rulings from launching the first generic Losec.

Because the mess will take months to sort out, AstraZeneca has a longer period of exclusivity on Losec. Where it had previously said earnings per share this year would be about 4 per cent lower than in 2001, yesterday it predicted a 4 to 5 per cent rise.

It also hinted it was close to appealing against the Schwarz judgment. Jon Symonds, the chief financial officer, said: "We are still examining the judgment closely, but we believe AstraZeneca will have a basis for appealing the decision."