SoGen has repeated its ‘sell’ recommendation and £26.75 share price target for pharma giant AstraZeneca (LON:AZN).
Its negativity is based around what it expects to be the less-than-brilliant performance of heart and stroke drug Brilinta.
It predicts other new products such as Onglyza and Bydureon (both for diabetes) will sell at a faster pace than most analysts are currently projecting.
However, it sees challenges for Brilinta: “Our forecasts for sales are significantly below consensus because we see multiple hurdles to its use in the US, such as the negative US data from the PLATO study, which deters doctors from prescribing it, an unhelpful twice daily dosing regimen, and an interaction with statins (which is absent in competitors clopidogrel and Effient).”
At midday the shares were changing hands for £30.67, down 9.5p on the day.