Prilosec US Litigation

AstraZeneca PLC
23 October 2001




PRILOSEC US LITIGATION



AstraZeneca today announced that it had received confirmation that its pending
litigation to defend its patents associated with Prilosec in the US will go to
trial in a case to be heard by Judge Jones commencing in New York on December
5th 2001.



The trial will consolidate the cases against Andrx, Kudco and Genpharm.  The
fourth defendant, Reddy Cheminor has requested that its case also be heard in
New York but it has not yet been transferred.



The trial, which will not involve a jury, will include consideration of the
validity of four AstraZeneca patents relating to the formulation and use of
Prilosec and will determine whether the defendants in the case infringe those
patents deemed to be valid by Judge Jones.  An additional patent will be
considered in the case against Andrx only.



AstraZeneca remains confident of the strength and validity of the intellectual
property position, which forms the basis of its case against the defendants.



                                   - Ends -



Date:  23 October 2001



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