FDA Approval - Faslodex

AstraZeneca PLC
26 April 2002




                     AstraZeneca receives FDA approval for
                Faslodex- a new type of breast cancer treatment


AstraZeneca today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
granted marketing approval for its new breast cancer drug 'Faslodex' for the
treatment of hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer in
postmenopausal women with disease progression following antioestrogen therapy,
(e.g. tamoxifen).

The breast cancer market in the USA is currently worth over $1 billion. An
estimated 203,500 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the
USA and an estimated 39,600 women will die of breast cancer in 2002.  A portion
of newly diagnosed breast cancer cases will be initially diagnosed in the
advanced or locally advanced stages where cancer has spread to the lymph nodes
and/or other parts of the body.

Two pivotal Phase III trials showed 'Faslodex' to be at least as effective as
the aromatase inhibitor 'Arimidex' in treating tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer
in postmenopausal women.  The new treatment is given as a once a month
intramuscular injection, which may offer compliance benefits and, as an
endocrine treatment, 'Faslodex' does not cause the side effects commonly
associated with chemotherapy.

 'Faslodex' is an antioestrogen (oestrogen receptor antagonist) without known
agonist effects.  Unlike aromatase inhibitors that reduce the amount of
oestrogen in a woman's body, and tamoxifen which blocks the oestrogen receptor,
'Faslodex' targets and degrades the oestrogen receptors in breast cancer cells.
It is the only antioestrogen in general clinical use to have demonstrated
efficacy following tamoxifen failure, indicating that it works in a different
way to tamoxifen.  'Faslodex' therefore represents another approach to treating
hormone sensitive breast cancer.

'Faslodex' and 'Arimidex' are trademarks, the property of the AstraZeneca group
of companies.



25 April 2002

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                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange