Shares in AstraZeneca were under pressure yesterday after analysts at ING said the Anglo-Swedish drugs giant was on the brink of an intellectual property meltdown.
The broker said that while many investors are aware that the pharmaceuticals industry is facing challenging patent expires, with tough generic competition, the situation is much more serious than investors realise.
ING believes Astra will be the single worst-affected company over the coming years and is forecasting a 40 per cent decline in earnings between 2009 and 2013. It said the group’s early-stage pipeline of products is unlikely to be profitable, even if successful, before 2015, and that cuts in infrastructure and research and development may be necessary, which in turn could force the company to license promising R&D candidates to other groups.
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