The Chief Executive Officer of drugs giant AstraZeneca has purchased 3,500 shares in the company, taking his stake in the group to 141,716 shares.

Pascal Soriot, who took up his current role just last month, bought the shares at 2,825p each for a total of £98,875.

53-year-old Soriot joined AstraZeneca from Roche AG, where he held the position of Chief Operating Officer of the company's pharmaceuticals division since 2010.

At the end of October the company admitted it continues to feel the effects of the expiry of patents on key brands, with revenues declining in the third quarter, although it has maintained its core earnings per share target for the full year.

Revenues for the quarter at $6,682m were down 15% at constant exchange rates, with loss of exclusivity on several brands and the disposals of Astra Tech and Aptium cited as the key reasons for the revenue decline.

For the nine months to September 30th, actual revenues fell 17% to $20,691m compared to 2011 with pre-tax profit dropping 23% to $7,578m.

Having soared to 3,100p at the beginning of August, the shares are now almost flat on a year ago, up just 1.2% over that time. In the past month the shares have fallen 98p, equal to 3.3%.


Top Director Buys

AstraZeneca (AZN)
Director name: Mr Pascal Soriot
Amount purchased: 3,500 @ 2,825.00p
Value: £98,875

PureCircle Ltd. (DI) (PURE)
Director name: Mr Paul E Selway-Swift
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 240.00p
Value: £24,000

Stadium Group (SDM)
Director name: Mr Stephen Phipson
Amount purchased: 35,000 @ 40.63p
Value: £14,220

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