UK pharma sector failing to match success of 1990s

Three firms in the UK pharmaceuticals sector are prevalent in investors' minds, though not necessari...

Three firms in the UK pharmaceuticals sector are prevalent in investors' minds, though not necessarily due to outperformance. Shire and AstraZeneca have both performed well over the past year compared with traditional market leader GlaxoSmithKline. However, AstraZeneca's share price experienced a dip after a drug dubbed NXY-059, which would have been used to treat ischemic strokes, failed testing. The sector as a whole has not done significantly well as more drugs have gone off patent and companies struggle to find replacement pipelines. Alasdair McKinnon, investment manager at the Scott...