Omeprazole Patent Upheld

ASTRAZENECA PLC
18 October 1999
                                  
            ASTRAZENECA'S OMEPRAZOLE FORMULATION PATENTS


AstraZeneca today announced that the Tel Aviv District Court has
upheld the formulation patents for omeprazole.  This follows an
appeal by AstraZeneca and the Israeli company Unipharm.  The
District Court found that the inventions subject to the patents
constituted a significant advance over prior art and that they were
not obvious.  Omeprazole is the substance used in 'Losec'.

Elsewhere, AstraZeneca has several pending patent infringement cases
including in Germany, Australia and Denmark, which are due to be
heard before the end of this year.  In the US the schedule for the
pre-trial proceedings, in the cases against four generic companies,
has been set up to October 2000 by the District Court of Southern
District of New York.

The substance patent for omeprazole began expiry in the first
countries in 1999.    In most countries AstraZeneca has been granted
Patent Term Extensions or Supplementary Protection Certificates
(SPCs).    This extended coverage expires in the US in April 2001,
in most European countries in 2002-2004, and in Japan in 2004.
The product is also protected by patents directed to formulation,
uses, intermediates and processes.


Further enquiries to:  Steve Brown, Media Relations, tel [phone]