FRANKFURT (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc <AZN.L> is convinced it can prevail in U.S. patent disputes over its two biggest drugs, Nexium and Seroquel, and has had no discussions about settling the cases, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
David Brennan said the Anglo-Swedish company's victories in past patent cases showed it had a deep understanding of the legal process and this added to its confidence.
"We haven't discussed anything around settlement," he told reporters during a visit to Germany.
"Our position has been we have strong intellectual property and we intend to defend it and stand behind it. Obviously, we have options available to us. We always explore options that are available but it's clear to us that we have an intellectual property argument to make and we are making it."
Investors are fearful for future AstraZeneca profits, since its top seller Nexium, for treating excess stomach acid, could face generic competition from April and Seroquel, for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, from late March.
Generic firms launching cheap copies in the coming weeks would be taking a risk, since AstraZeneca could claim damages if its patents were ultimately upheld in court. But such so-called "at risk" launches are an increasingly common tactic from generic manufacturers.
"We have had experience going through the judicial process," Brennan said, noting that the company had prevailed in seven out of eight previous patent cases.
Nexium, with worldwide sales of $5.2 billion last year, is viewed by analysts as more vulnerable than Seroquel, since it is essentially a "cleaned-up" version of AstraZeneca's older ulcer pill Losec.
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd <RANB.BO> has first rights to market a generic form of Nexium in the United States and last week received tentative U.S. approval for its version.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd <TEVA.O> and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd <RDY.BO> are also working on Nexium generics.
AstraZeneca says it has valid U.S. Nexium patents expiring between 2014 and 2019.
In the case of Seroquel, which sold $4 billion last year, the principal challenge comes from Teva.
Brennan and Chief Financial Officer Simon Lowth said AstraZeneca had contingency plans in place in the event of losing exclusivity on its products, including rapidly taking out costs.
Some analysts have suggested AstraZeneca could be left as a takeover target for a bigger rival if Nexium or Seroquel were to fall to generics but Brennan said he did not believe such a mega-merger was likely.
"I think that the future of our industry will have a lot more to do with collaboration than it will with consolidation," he said, highlighting AstraZeneca's diabetes drug deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co <BMY.N> as a good example.
(Writing by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Richard Hubbard)
