STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Iressa comeback lifts AstraZeneca

Shares in AstraZeneca (AZN.L) gain 2.6 percent after European regulators recommended its drug Iressa for certain lung cancer patients late on Thursday. Hopes for robust first quarter results on April 30 also help the stock, analysts say.

Using Iressa in a subset of patients with a certain gene mutation won't generate huge sales but the news is a boost to sentiment, since the medicine has been largely written off by analysts folowing a clinical trial failure in 2004.

"Although it is not a large indication, maybe $100 million to $200 million, Astra is on such a compressed multiple right now that it doesn't take very much to lift it," said Jeff Holford, an industry analyst at Jefferies.

For more on Iressa, click on [ID:nLN203234] [ID:nLO183526]

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