Astra says no patent deal talks, expects to prevail

By Mantik Kusjanto and Patricia Gugau

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc is convinced it can prevail in U.S. patent disputes over its two biggest drugs, Nexium and Seroquel, and has had no discussions about settling the cases, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

David Brennan said the Anglo-Swedish company's victories in past patent cases showed it had a deep understanding of the legal process and this added to its confidence.

"We haven't discussed anything around settlement," he told reporters during a visit to Germany.

"Our position has been we have strong intellectual property and we intend to defend it and stand behind it. Obviously, we have options available to us. We always explore options that are available but it's clear to us that we have an intellectual property argument to make and we are making it."

Investors are fearful for future AstraZeneca profits, since its top seller Nexium, for treating excess stomach acid, could face generic competition from April and Seroquel, for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, from late March.

Generic firms launching cheap copies in the coming weeks would be taking a risk, since AstraZeneca could claim damages if its patents were ultimately upheld in court. But such so-called "at risk" launches are an increasingly common tactic from generic manufacturers.

"We have had experience going through the judicial process," Brennan said, noting that the company had prevailed in seven out of eight previous patent cases.

Nexium, with worldwide sales of $5.2 billion last year, is viewed by analysts as more vulnerable than Seroquel, since it is essentially a "cleaned-up" version of AstraZeneca's older ulcer pill Losec.