AstraZeneca hits a high

ASTRAZENECA today provided the strongest proof yet that a new generation of drugs is turning into a huge moneyspinner, enabling the company to shrug off the impact of copycat competition.

Third-quarter pre-tax profits surged 21% on a 12% increase in turnover as sales of its trio of blockbusters Nexium, Crestor and Iressa began to grow. The group said its full-year results would beat current market forecasts.

Chief executive Sir Tom McKillop said: ?The promising early results from the US launches of Iressa and Crestor have more than offset sales lost to generic competition and provide the platform to deliver top-tier financial performance in the future.‘

Crestor, a new cholesterol drug, notched up US sales of $88m (£52m) after being approved by regulators in August while sales of Iressa, a cancer treatment, climbed to $136m. Nexium, a new ulcer drug, increased sales by 86% to $2.5bn.

Third-quarter profits rose to $1.1bn from $923m, lifting the nine-month figure by 1% to $3.33bn. Sales rose to $4.8bn, boosting the nine-month total to almost $14bn.