Investors gripped by AZ news as latest suggests Soriot is staying – for now

24 July 2017

Trying to control investor and media relations for Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) remains an unenviable task, with leaks now appearing to suggest that chief executive Pascal Soriot is staying.

Rumors that the Frenchman might be set for a big-money move to Israeli generics giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) sent the company’s share price tumbling by 4% earlier this month and added to speculation that AstraZeneca could become a takeover target for one of pharma’s big guns.

Investors have also tried to predict what bearing the reports surrounding Mr Soriot might mean for the outcome of AstraZeneca’s MYSTIC lung cancer trial into a combination treatment of the immunotherapy drugs Imfinzi (durvalumab) and tremelimumab.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Try before you buy

Free

7 day trial access

Take a Free Trial

All the news that moves the needle in pharma and biotech
Exclusive features, podcasts, interviews, data analyses and commentary from our global network of life sciences reporters.
Receive The Pharma Letter daily news bulletin, free forever.

Become a subscriber

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now

Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription

The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK