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AstraZeneca Receive Highly Coveted Frost & Sullivan Award: 'Pharmaceutical Industry Product of the Year' for Anastrozole (ARIMIDEX(TM))

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 06:00 CDT

LONDON, September 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan has today awarded AstraZeneca the highly coveted 2005 Pharmaceutical Industry Product of the Year Award for its hormonal breast cancer therapy anastrozole ('Arimidex'). The Award recognises the advances in breast cancer treatment made by AstraZeneca through the development of anastrozole, a product now shown to be better at preventing the spread and return of cancer than tamoxifen - previously considered to be the "gold standard" therapy.

The prestigious Frost & Sullivan Awards are recognised worldwide and are coveted across a broad array of industries, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications industries. The Product of the Year Award is presented annually to the company that has demonstrated superior excellence in the development of new products and technologies within their industry.

"Frost & Sullivan believe that AstraZeneca's anastrozole truly demonstrates the ability of one outstanding product to make a significant difference to modern clinical practice and, most importantly, to patients' lives," stated Mr. Dorman Followwill, Global Vice President, Frost & Sullivan. "The importance of anastrozole's role in the treatment of breast cancer is reflected both in the presentation of this Award and in the fact that the therapy is now considered the new 'standard' for the treatment of post-menopausal women with early breast cancer. Considering the impact that tamoxifen has made on the treatment of breast cancer over the past 30 years, this is a truly resounding achievement."

Since its launch in 1995, anastrozole has quickly become the benchmark treatment for early breast cancer with fewer life threatening side effects than those seen with the previous gold standard drug, tamoxifen, in particular blood clots, stroke and cancer of the womb lining.

Results from the world's largest and longest running early breast cancer trial, 'ATAC' (Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination) involving over 9,600 postmenopausal women confirmed that, in hormone receptor positive patients, anastrozole reduced the risk of the cancer coming back for all forms of breast cancer compared with tamoxifen. Tamoxifen was previously shown to provide an impressive 47 per cent reduction in the risk of breast cancer coming back compared with placebo. In the ATAC trial however, anastrozole gave a further 26 per cent benefit to that offered by tamoxifen.

Evidence suggests that the first five years following primary surgery is when women are at greatest risk of their cancer returning. In addition to the reduction of risk for the cancer returning, in the 'ATAC' trial anastrozole increased the chances of staying disease free and alive over this period by 13 per cent, and increased the time to cancer returning by 20 per cent. The risk that the cancer would spread around the body or occur in the other breast was reduced by 14 per cent and over 40 per cent, respectively.

Bernie Tyrell, Vice President, Global Marketing, Oncology and Infection, AstraZeneca, commented of the announcement, "To be bestowed with such a prestigious Award is an honour for everyone at AstraZeneca who has been involved in the development and marketing of anastrozole. It provides fitting recognition of the continued dedication AstraZeneca makes towards the development of medical science and technology in oncology. Our key aim is to provide the best treatments that enhance the medical profession and ultimately provide the greatest results for women living with breast cancer. As market leaders in the treatment of breast cancer, we continue to commit significant resources towards this aim."

Frost & Sullivan believe that increasing adoption, outstanding sales performance and continued product development will enable anastrozole to become the clear market leader, despite strong competition from the long established therapy, tamoxifen and the other aromatase inhibitors. It is the only drug of its type to have extensive safety data with over five years of clinical experience in early breast cancer and our research indicates that the use of anastrozole in treating early breast cancer has considerably risen in recent years. Anastrozole has been a resounding success story and looks set to build upon this success in the coming years.

Notes to Editor About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca continues its tradition of research excellence and innovation in oncology that led to the development of its current anti-cancer therapies including 'ARIMIDEX' (anastrozole), 'CASODEX' (bicalutamide), 'FASLODEX' (fulvestrant), 'NOLVADEX' (tamoxifen), 'ZOLADEX' (goserelin), 'TOMUDEX' (raltitrexed) and 'IRESSA' (gefitinib) as well as a range of novel targeted products such as anti-proliferatives, anti-angiogenics, vascular targeting and anti-invasive agents. AstraZeneca is also harnessing rational drug design technologies to develop new compounds that offer advantages over current cytotoxic and hormonal treatment options. The company has over 20 different anti-cancer projects in research and development.

AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of over US$21.4 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory, oncology, and neuroscience products. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.

'ARIMIDEX', 'CASODEX', 'FASLODEX', 'NOLVADEX', 'ZOLADEX', 'TOMUDEX', and 'IRESSA' are trademarks, the property of the AstraZeneca group of companies.

Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com/.

Criteria for the award

The award-winning company will have demonstrated superior excellence in the development of new products and technologies within their industry and shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies. To choose a recipient of this Award, the analyst team for Frost & Sullivan tracks all new product launches, R&D spending, products in development, and new product features and modifications. All new product launches and new products in development in each company are compared and evaluated based on degree of innovation and customer satisfaction. Companies are then ranked by number of new product launches and new products in development.

For more information, please contact: Katja Feick Corporate Communications Frost & Sullivan Phone: +49-69-77033-12 Fax: +49-69-234566 E-Mail: katja.feick@frost.com

Frost & Sullivan

CONTACT: Katja Feick, Corporate Communications, Frost & Sullivan, Phone:+49-69-77033-12, Fax: +49-69-234566, E-Mail:katja.feick@frost.com

Source: PRNewswire

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