AstraZeneca shares’ long-term growth has stalled in the past couple of months, thanks to a fluctuating news flow of robust third-quarter results, a vaccine company takeover and clinical drug trials that have variously cheered and disappointed. The impression is of a group trying to move forward in the face of strong headwinds from the global economy, international conflict and national drug regulators.
This column recommended the shares 14 months ago at £99, and again at £110 last August. They rose to £112 before disappointing data for its lung cancer drug Dato-DXd led to an £11 sell-off. The fall was halted a week later by “highly encouraging results” for a batch of other treatments, but that was not enough to make up all the lost ground.
