AstraZeneca is aiming to extend life of drug

AstraZeneca today made its latest move to boost its revenue stream before blockbuster drugs fall out of patent.

It asked European regulators to approve a new medicine for heart patients to sell to the 30% of people who take aspirin for their condition but suffer from stomach pain as a result.

Britain's number-two drugmaker's new medicine Axanum combines aspirin and the active ingredient from its best-seller stomach-acid reflux drug Nexium.

Its application is a bid to help extend the commercial life of Nexium, its $5 billion-a-year blockbuster which comes out of patent in 2014.

Astra has already won the approval of the US drug regulator for another treatment based on some of Nexium's ingredients, Vimovo, which is also designed to help patients with the gastrointestinal problems associated with taking aspirin.

But Axanum could be more difficult to take through regulatory hurdles since it has run into problems in the US.

This week, regulators there requested more information about the drug before they would consider approving it.

AstraZeneca, like many of the world's biggest pharmaceuticals firms, is facing the loss of exclusivity on top-selling drugs including its cholesterol pill Crestor and antipsychotic drug Seroquel over the next few years.