AstraZeneca Wins Case

AstraZeneca PLC
24 April 2002



                ASTRAZENECA WINS LOSEC(R) PATENT CASE IN CANADA


The Appeal Division of the Federal Court of Canada, has ruled in favour of
AstraZeneca in litigation between AstraZeneca and RhoxalPharma Inc. under the
Patented Medicines (Notice Of Compliance) Regulations.

Rhoxalpharma had appealed against a decision in the Federal Court in December
2000 in favour of AstraZeneca after alleging that its omeprazole product,
developed by Andrx, would not infringe AstraZeneca's formulation patents for
Losec(R).

The Appeal Division agreed with the Federal Court finding that RhoxalPharma's
allegation of non-infringement was not justified and therefore prohibited the
Minister of Health from giving RhoxalPharma marketing approval for the generic
product until expiry of the formulation patents in June 2009.  Omeprazole is the
active ingredient in Losec(R).

In Canada, AstraZeneca has several patents covering Losec(R), among those are
patents for salts, formulations and uses, and intends to fully enforce its
patent rights.  These patents expire between 2007 and 2014.



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April 24, 2002


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