Astra vs GSK. Drugs vs Dividends.
Update: AstraZeneca has failed another drugs trial. That's the risk of its strategy which has been to focus on bulking up its pipeline with exciting, novel therapies. It's very different to the 'steady as she goes' approach employed by GlaxoSmithKline which, though underwhelming, might be better for income seekers.
AstraZeneca’s (AZN) ‘Mystic’ drugs trial has failed to improve overall survival chances for lung cancer patients. Investors clearly aren’t surprised - the share price only fell 3% on the back of the announcement. Why? Because Astra’s Mystic trial has failed before. In the summer of 2017, the pharma giant suffered one of its largest ever one-day share price falls when it reported that the drugs being trialled in ‘Mystic’ had failed to halt progression free survival (which means the cancer gets no worse over a specified period of time). Then, the failure was particularly disappointing because Astra had high hopes…