AstraZeneca turns further to emerging markets, aiming for quarter of its revenues from these by 2014

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca is increasing its focus on the world's emerging markets to sustain its growth over the coming years, anticipating double-digit expansion in these regions and expecting them to generate around a quarter of its turnover by 2014.

The company revealed its plans and thinking at an investors seminar yesterday, the same day that IMS Health presented its latest report on 'Pharmerging' markets, indicating these would contribution $90 billion to the global pharmaceutical market's expansion during 2009-13 (see separate story today), and comes just after the UK-headquartered firm announced a deal with India's Torrent for the supply of branded generic medicines in a number of countries (The Pharma Letter March 11). AstraZeneca faces competition on seven drugs by 2014, including its three biggest sellers: the gastro-intestinal Nexium (esomeprazole), the antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine) and cholesterol lowerer Crestor (rosuvastatin), so looking to compensate for a loss in sales is imperative for the company.

Will look out for favorable pricing scenarios