AstraZeneca's R&D pipeline update reveals 120 NCEs and 25 LCM strategies in progress

In its latest R&D update, released with its fourth-quarter 2006 results (see page 5), Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca said that its pipeline now totals 120 projects, including 95 New Chemical Entities and 25 lifecycle management opportunities of products already on the market.

Since December 2005, AstraZeneca's externalization efforts have added five Phase II and two Phase III molecules to its development pipeline, while a further 21 new molecules entered development from its own laboratories, and the early pipeline progressed well with 12 first-human exposures during the year.

The firm's recent R&D highlights include a January 2007 worldwide collaboration with US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop and commercialize two diabetes compounds, including saxagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor in Phase III development and dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor in Phase IIb tests.