AstraZeneca profit plunges on lower sales of cholesterol drug

AstraZeneca’s profit plunged along with sales of its cholesterol drug Crestor, leaving the UK’s second-largest drugmaker dependent on a clutch of new medicines for cancer and diabetes.

Core earnings per share, a measure used by the company that excludes some costs, fell 31 per cent to 83 US cents (75 cents) from a year earlier, the London-based company said Thursday in a statement.

Analysts had predicted 82.2 cents a share, according to an average estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

AstraZeneca employs some 60 people in Ireland.

Generics

With eight generics of its best-seller Crestor approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last week, Astra must now deliver on its ambitious pipeline of drugs that harness the power of the immune system to fight an array of cancers. The company is betting that combinations of such drugs will become the basis of cancer treatment, but that strategy means they'll have to compete with first movers Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Sales of newer drugs rose, with heart drug Brilinta gaining 49 per cent to $211 million and the latest cancer treatments bringing in $251 million.

Farxiga, a diabetes treatment, generated $214 million, beating analyst estimates of $192 million.

– (Bloomberg)