BUZZ-European pharma: currency blows hot and cold for Q1 results

** Big currency swings are set to overshadow Q1 results at European drugmakers, with euro reporters helped by a 20% year-on-year move in the dollar/euro rate but companies accounting in dollars or Swiss francs held back

** Swiss franc reporters Actelion (Xetra: 936767 - news) and Roche kick off the reporting season on April 21 and 22, with a stronger dollar not enough to outweigh the euro and other foreign exchange weakness

** Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) analysts expect FX headwinds to clip 3 pct from Roche sales and 8 pct from Actelion, while dollar reporter Novartis (April 23) is set to take around a 10 pct hit

** AstraZeneca (Swiss: AZN.SW - news) (April 24), which also reports in dollars, will see a currency hit at the sales line of about 7 pct, according to Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news)

** By contrast, FX will be a windfall for euro reporters Sanofi (NasdaqGM: GCVRZ - news) and Bayer (Milan: BAY.MI - news) , as well as Denmark's Novo Nordisk, all presenting results on April 30

** Least affected among the large-cap pharmas is likely to be Britain's GlaxoSmithKline (Hanover: GS7.HA - news) (May 6), says Deutsche (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : ben.hirschler.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)