
AstraZeneca leaks confidential information
pharmafile | January 9, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, data leak
There have been red faces at AstraZeneca after the company sent confidential information to analysts by mistake.
It was forced into issuing a clarification about its financial prospects, saying that the information it inadvertently let out “does not represent the company’s view of expected financial performance for the full year 2011 or for future periods”.
Its most recent financial guidance was issued on 20 December last year, when the company said it expected core earnings per share for the full year 2011 “in the lower half of the range” of $7.20 to $7.40.
“We are making sure the markets are clear,” an AstraZeneca spokesperson told Pharmafocus. “As soon as we were aware, we took immediate action. This was out-of-date planning information.”
The official full-year results are expected on 2 February – in the meantime, the company said its mid-term planning assumptions for 2010-2014 also remained the same, with predicted turnover expected to be in the range of $28-34 billion per year over the period.
The old data was embedded into a spreadsheet template sent to analysts as part of a routine process asking them for their estimates of the company.
AstraZeneca is not commenting on whether the gaffe has caused any damage and a spokesperson declined to say who alerted the company to its mistake.
While many media outlets have reported the error, the offending information itself does not seem to have made it into the public domain.
Adam Hill
Related Content

NICE recommends Benralizumab for Rare Form of Vasculitis
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended AstraZeneca’s benralizumab (Fasenra) as …

NICE approves AstraZeneca’s dual immunotherapy for advanced liver cancer
AstraZeneca has received a positive recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence …

Purpose and people: the enduring power of brand and the evolution of employer identity
Two decades ago, terms like purpose and people were rarely at the forefront of branding …






