File this under wistful optimism.

The AstraZeneca ceo says his beleaguered company may just spend billions more to buy products for its ailling pipeline, even after paying $15 billion for MedImmune. Brennan, in fact, is on the lookout for opportunities, including still more biotech firms.

Like some rivals, he concedes the drugmaker can’t “discover its way out” of its woes. “We feel like we have the potential to keep our credit rating in the ‘A’ category and still have in the billions of dollars to spend if we choose to spend it,” he boasts to Reuters.

Of course, some may disagree. Many analysts chastised Brennan and his team for the MedIuumne deal. which has been described as expensive and doing little to address the lack of drugs in the Phase III stage of development.

“I wouldn’t envision that we would be doing a deal like MedImmune at all but I think we have the capacity to do more if the opportunity is right. It would have to be a strategic fit with our existing therapeutic categories,” he says.

Brennan also implores investors to focus on the long-term capability he expects the MedImmune deal to give AstraZeneca to target diseases in a range of different ways. Of course, investors are focused on the short-term and Dave knows this. His inclination to play the visionary is laudable, but unlikely to sway many analysts or managers just yet.

In fact, given AstraZeneca’s dismal track record in bringing new drugs to market of late - there have been a few spectacular failures - some wonder whether the drugmaker can or should remain independent. But Brennan insists there is no need to sell out: “I think AstraZeneca’s greatest opportunity is to go it alone.”

Of course. Otherwise, he’s not exactly in a position of strength right now.

Source: Reuters
[tags]AstraZeneca, Dave Brennan, MedImmune, Mergers[/tags]