Grug giant Astra sees sales fall 3%

Tax gains and a one-off patent deal buoyed AstraZeneca's earnings in the first quarter but couldn't hide a bigger-than-expected 3 per cent fall in sales as pressure increased from cheap generic medicines.

The group yesterday nudged up its full-year earnings forecast on the back of the results, unlike French rival Sanofi-Aventis, which declined to give a forecast with its results. Analysts, however, said this did not change Astra's longer-term problem of trying to find enough new drugs to make up for those facing patent expiry.