Investors in Neil Woodford's funds will be heaving a sigh of relief after a torrid few weeks for the manager, as shares of his favoured pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca jumped this morning (11 September) in the wake of a pair of positive drug trials.
The shares are up 2.02 per cent to £48.70 as at 10.51am. Astra Zeneca shares are now above the £48.66 at which they traded a year ago.
The shares remain below the £52.85 level of three months ago, following a price decline sparked by the disappointing results of another clinical drug trial.
This morning’s share price gains follow positive news regarding a pair of lung cancer drugs called Imfinzi, and another called Tagrisso, both of which performed adequately during recent clinical trials.
Astra Zeneca’s share price suffered in August in the wake of the failure of a drug trial called Mystic.
Mr Woodford said at that time the market was over-reacting to the bad news, as there are a wider range of products and cashflows than just the drug which had the unsuccessful trial.
Mr Woodford has Astra Zeneca shares as the largest investment in his £10bn Woodford Equity Income fund. The fund has just over 8 per cent invested in the shares, equating to a holding of £800m.
The high profile fund manager has suffered a series of set backs in recent weeks, after heavy price falls in shares he is heavily exposed to, including auto-repair giant AA and payday lender Provident Financial, as well as Astra.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
