Zeneca Nine-Month Sales Decline

Zeneca, the UK's third largest pharmaceutical company, has reported adip in sales for the first nine months of 1997, down from L4.18 billion ($6.95 billion) to L3.95 billion. The company said that the 5% fall was due to adverse currency impacts and the disposal of peripheral businesses in the Zeneca Specialities Group.

Excluding these effects, however, Zeneca claimed that underlying sales rose 10%, while pharmaceutical underlying growth increased 14%, in line with expectations. New products, including the antiasthma agent Accolate (zafirlukast) and the migraine therapy Zomig (zolmitriptan), performed well and accounted for 19% of sales.

Other new products making a strong contribution included the aromatase inhibitor Arimidex (anastrozole) for breast cancer and Tomudex (raltitrexed) for colorectal cancer. Annual sales growth is expected to be at least in line with current performance, said Zeneca.