AstraZeneca gets US FDA approval for Seroquel

05/18/07 - newratings.com

NEW YORK, May 18 (newratings.com) – AstraZeneca Plc (AZN) Friday announced that its schizophrenia drug Seroquel had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The British pharma giant said it will launch the extended release drug Seroquel-XR in the second half of 2007. Seroquel-XR is a once a day tablet for the treatment of schizophrenia in adult patients. Seroquel, AstraZeneca’s second-highest selling drug, generated $3.4 billion in revenues in 2006. While the patent period of the drug’s original version is to expire shortly, the patent of the newer version will remain protected in the US till 2017.