AstraZeneca Timing is everything

Tom McKillop, the chief executive of Anglo- Swedish drug maker, has certainly picked the right time to announce his retirement. The group is motoring along, and has produced one of the finest sets of results since its founding merger. Sales and profits are rising sharply. And Astra has just raised its estimate of 2005 net income per share by more than 8%. The group’s success is partly a triumph of marketing. Its biggest drug, stomach acid reducer Nexium, is a case study in salesmanship. The dru...