Dresdner casts doubt over AZ drug

A TOP firm of stockbrokers is locked in a major dispute with drugs giant AstraZeneca after raising serious doubts about the future of a new blockbuster medicine.

Astra has spent hundreds of millions of pounds developing cholesterol lowering treatment Crestor, which is awaiting approval from US authorities. But Dresdner claims to have uncovered similarities in chemical structure between Crestor and Baycolm, which German group Bayer was forced to withdraw after it was linked to a number of deaths.

Dresdner showed Astra scientists a draft version of its report, but decided to go ahead and publish, despite strong objections to its findings by the drugs group. Dresdner concluded that there was a 'significant risk' Crestor would not win approval from America's powerful Food & Drugs Administration. Failure would be a massive blow to Astra's prospects.

Tim Franklin of Dresdner's pharmaceuticals team said: 'We are confident of the observations we have made and the weakness of the defence by the company. If this drug has the capacity to cause side effects, we as independent analysts must make that point.'

The research comes at a sensitive time for AZ, which is anxiously awaiting an FDA decision, already delayed by two months. An AstraZeneca spokesman said: 'Dresdner's science is faulty. The conjecture is not credible and does not withstand scientific scrutiny.'