STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-AstraZeneca flat after expected drug okay

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shares fail to bounce after U.S. regulators approve its new diabetes drug Onglyza, developed with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N), trading 0.2 percent higher in line with the European drugs sector .SXDP.

Analysts say the approval shows AstraZeneca's pipeline is starting to deliver again, but the green light had been widely expected.

Onglyza will compete with Merck & Co's (MRK.N) Januvia as the second so-called DDP-4 inhibitor on sale in the United States.

Sanford Bernstein analysts say the new drug does not appear to be differentiated from Januvia but, as the second entrant, is likely to take at least some share of a market that could be worth more than $7 billion in annual sales by 2015. For more double click on [ID:nN31444052]

Reuters Messaging rm://ben.hirschler.reuters.com@reuters.net