Court case help for AstraZeneca

A LONG-RUNNING battle in the New York courts is helping Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca fight off competitors to its bestselling ulcer drugs Losec and Prilosec.

US sales of the drugs tumbled 24% but the fall was attributed to AstraZeneca persuading the medical profession to switch patients to its newer ulcer drug, Nexium. The court battle against four competitors is expected to last until the end of the year, giving the company more breathing space to get doctors to switch their patients to the new drug.

Sales of Nexium soared to $830m (£547m) in the second quarter of AstraZeneca's financial year ended in June, helping lift pre-tax profits 8% to $1.06bn. Turnover also grew 8%, to $4.38bn.

Worldwide sales jumped 10% to $8.8bn in the six months to June, with two thirds of them in the lucrative US market.

Analysts had predicted a pre-tax profit of between $1.11bn and $1.16bn and the market was slightly disappointed with the outcome, but AstraZeneca shares rose 18p to 2020p. Chief executive Tom McKillop said: 'The business remains on track to meet its financial targets for the full year.'