AstraZeneca CEO: Expect to Update on Strategy End-January 2013

By Jessica Hodgson

LONDON--AstraZeneca PLC's (AZN) new chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said Thursday he expects to be in a position to update investors on his strategy to revive the drug maker's fortunes from late January at the earliest.

On a conference call with reporters, Dr. Soriot, who started his job earlier this month, said he wanted to take as much time as he needed to complete a review of the business before making any decisions, and had been meeting investors and staff as he considered the options for the troubled company.

AstraZeneca said earlier that third-quarter net profit fell by more than 50%, due to a sharp decline in revenue driven primarily by the loss of patent protection on its antischizophrenia drug Seroquel IR.

But Dr. Soriot hinted that the company would likely have to make some acquisitions in order to revive its drug pipeline.

"One of the critical things is to bolster our pipeline, and that will have to rely on business development," he said.

Asked whether he would consider diversifying AstraZeneca into adjacent market segments--such as generic drugs or consumer healthcare--as many other large drug makers have done, or was focused primarily on patented medicines, Dr. Soriot said AstraZeneca's "core is in innovation, and will remain so," without elaborating.

He said that he was optimistic about the prospects for Brilinta, AstraZeneca's newly launched anti-platelet drug, although he conceded missteps had been made around its launch.

"We may not have shown our best game," with the launch, he said. But he added it wasn't too late for the drug to be relaunched to greater effect.

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