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.
Write to Jessica Hodgson at jessica.hodgson@dowjones.com
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