Jones Lang LaSalle


Burning Questions
Thursday, February 09, 2006

Tony Zook, chief executive of AstraZeneca's U.S. operations, based in Wilmington, Del., said the British drugmaker has 31 manufacturing sites in 20 countries, giving it a leg-up on its American competitors.

AstraZeneca has enough cash to ramp up spending on research and development or buy the pipelines of rival drugmakers. What's your next move? Our No. 1 priority is to support our pipeline. We want to continue to develop the compounds in our labs. We have 25, and there are three in late-stage development.

We're looking at outside opportunities that are available. But we don't see a merger or the kind of broad acquisition we are speaking to. We don't need that type of transitional event. Would you be in the market for smaller biotechnology companies or drugmakers at discount prices? We'll look at opportunities on a case-by-case basis. Wall Street analysts suggest European drugmakers have the upper hand on their American counterparts, in part because of their business models. Do you agree? There is a benefit from being a multinational and global firm.

Our presence in emerging markets are stronger as a result.

AstraZeneca is the No. 1 company in the emerging market of China. We're also making inroads in Russia. Three generic companies are challenging AstraZeneca's patent for the blood-pressure drug Toprol XL, your top seller with $1.74 billion in sales last year. Should the United States and European Union take steps to curb patent challenges? I'm not in a position to comment on those broad policy issues.

-- George E. Jordan