The big drugmaker reported decent earnings, but like its rivals is scrambling to lower expenses and replenish its pipeline at the same time.

Toward that end, AstraZeneca is paying $150 million for Arrow Therapeutics, which develops anti-infectives.

For 1006, pretax profit was $8.54 billion, and sales rose 11 percent to $26.5 billion, thanks toor blockbusters like anticulercant Nexium, cholesterol fighter Crestor and Seroquel for schizophrenia. Earnings per share increased 33 percent to $3.86, matching analyst forecasts.
Fourth-quarter profit before tax gained 25% to $2.1 billion, and sales jumped 14 percent to $7.2 billion.

AstraZeneca is taking a $500 million charge to cover cutbacks, and spending $4 billion on share buybacks.

[tags]AstraZeneca, Crestor, Job Cuts, Nexium, Seroquel, Share Buyback[/tags]