AstraZeneca share price: Group unveils organisational shake-up

AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) has unveiled an organisational shake-up, creating therapy and area-focused research and development units, the Anglo-Swedish pharma group has said. The move comes as the company has bet on a limited number of therapy areas to propel growth.

AstraZeneca’s share price has been subdued in London in today’s session, having given up 1.07 percent to 6,024.00p as of 14:35 GMT. The stock is underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.59 percent lower at 6,796.90 points. The group’s shares have added nearly 16 percent to their value over the past year, as compared with about a 12-percent drop in the Footsie.

AstraZeneca unveils organisational changes

AstraZeneca announced in a statement today that it was creating two therapy area-focused R&D units – one for BioPharmaceuticals (Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism (CVRM) and Respiratory) and one for Oncology – as well as mirrored commercial units. The Oncology R&D unit will be lead by José Baselga, most recently Physician-in-Chief at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. The R&D for BioPharmaceuticals will be led by Mene Pangalos, who was previously responsible for the group’s Innovative Medicines and Early Development Biotech Unit.

“We are entering what we expect will be a period of sustained growth for years to come, which is why we have decided to more closely align our R&D and commercial operations,” AstraZeneca’s chief executive Pascal Soriot commented in the statement, adding that the new structure would support growth and sharpen the focus on the company’s main therapy areas.

Analysts on Anglo-Swedish drugmaker

JPMorgan Chase & Co, which is ‘overweight’ on AstraZeneca, boosted its valuation on the shares from 6,900p to 7,100p last week, while Goldman Sachs, which rates the FTSE 100 group as a ‘sell,’ set a price target of 4,080p on the stock. According to MarketBeat, the blue-chip drugmaker currently has a consensus ‘hold’ rating and an average price target of 6,124.68p.

As of 15:02 GMT, Monday, 07 January, AstraZeneca plc share price is 4,922.25p.