Markets are curious beasts, as it has been said here before. AstraZeneca’s Nexium heartburn treatment went off patent in 2014. That presaged a decline in sales as cheaper generic copies hit the market.
Its Crestor anti-cholesterol drug goes off patent in May. This accounted for more than $5 billion of total sales of $24.7 billion in 2015, the biggest seller, and generic competition will also kick in.
The pharmaceutical company has made a couple of significant acquisitions, paying $2.7 billion for ZS Pharma late last year and, in December, agreeing to take a majority stake in Acerta Pharma of the Netherlands. Both deals will clearly be earnings dilutive in the near term. The high dollar is another negative.
The company told analysts yesterday that,