AstraZeneca’s story
Ten milestones including Vladimir Putin, Lars Bildman, and Nexium, that make me feel uneasy
The beginning
The twenty-two-year history of AstraZeneca is an interesting path with cases of fraud, misrepresentation, and sexual harassment charges.
In 1996, three years before Astra met Zeneca and merged into AstraZeneca, Lars Bildman, the former CEO of Astra, was accused of sexual harassment and gross misconduct. Swedish-born Lars Bildman, also known as drunk Swede, apparently concocted tales of a conspiracy involving KGB back in 1996. Or was there a real conspiracy?
2001 — Nexium
Nexium was introduced as a new tradename of an old drug Omeprazole. AstraZeneca (AZN) marketed Omeprazole (long approved for medical use) as a new drug, Esomeprazole. Two years before the omeprazole patent expired, AZN patented S-omeprazole.
Omeprazole was in 103rd place of most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 7 million prescriptions. Not surprisingly Nexium (esomeprazole) became the company’s most successful medication in the history of AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca was heavily criticized for its aggressive marketing of Nexium.
2007
