AstraZeneca trumpets solo strength in cancer drugs, snubbing Pfizer

* AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) designates oncology as new growth driver

* Filing for lung cancer pill brought forward to Q2 2015

* Company reiterates sales to exceed $45 billion by 2023

* Investor (Other OTC: IVSBF - news) day comes 8 days before Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - news) can resume pursuit

* CEO says "hard to comment" on chances of Pfizer return (Adds further CEO comments)

By Ben Hirschler and Simon Jessop

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca touted an "industry-leading" line-up of hot new cancer drugs on Tuesday, aiming to show investors it has a strong independent future just days before takeover rules would allow Pfizer to launch a new bid.

The company also brought forward the filing date for a new lung cancer pill, and said it could win between eight and 10 new approvals in 2015-2016 for drugs dealing with a wide range of diseases.

Neil Woodford, a top-20 shareholder who left Invesco (NYSE: IVZ - news) earlier this year to set up Woodford Investment Management, said his belief in the drugmaker's independent prospects was "even stronger" after the update. AstraZeneca, which saw off a $118 billion approach from Pfizer in May, is his biggest holding.

The company's work on immune-boosting cancer treatments is advancing especially fast, Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said, meaning it can now formally add it as a sixth growth business ahead of the new drugs reaching the market.

AstraZeneca's five existing growth platforms of heart drug Brilinta, diabetes, respiratory medicine, emerging markets and Japan currently make up more than half of its revenue. It believes oncology could grow to a quarter of sales by 2023.

"Oncology is going to become rapidly a growth platform for us," Soriot said.

Although AstraZeneca has more drugs coming through, it still faces major challenges, with a raft of patent expiries over the next few years, and Soriot said he would continue to seek partnerships and bolt-on acquisitions to build the business.

"We're asking our shareholders to be patient," Soriot said. "We cannot overnight replace (heartburn and cholesterol drugs) Nexium and Crestor. Those are tremendous products, they are very profitable and when they go they really leave a hole in the till."

Many analysts remain sceptical about the company's ability to deliver on its previously announced long-term targets - a return to revenue growth by 2017 and annual sales up by three quarters to exceed $45 billion by 2023 - but consensus forecasts have increased in the past six months.

ANOTHER PFIZER APPROACH?

Executives from AstraZeneca presented details of its new drugs to investors at a six-hour meeting with analysts.

The event comes eight days before British takeover rules allow Pfizer to renew its pursuit, an option some investors now see as unlikely after the U.S. company signed a major cancer drug deal with Germany's Merck KGaA (Other OTC: MKGAF - news) on Monday that reduced its need for AstraZeneca's products.

Soriot said it was "hard to comment" on the read-across from the Pfizer-Merck tie-up.

Woodford said he thought there remained a 50/50 chance of Pfizer approaching AstraZeneca again, despite new U.S. curbs on the kind of tax-cutting deal Pfizer had planned to do, since the U.S. firm still needed to replenish its medicine chest despite the Merck deal.

"Pfizer doesn't really have a pipeline of new drugs but AstraZeneca does," he said.

Most AstraZeneca investors have focused their interest on its cancer drug portfolio, particularly immuno-oncology where it has 13 combination trials underway and 16 planned.

It is also making rapid progress with a new pill against lung cancer, called AZD9291, which is now expected to be filed for U.S. approval in the second quarter of 2015.

Previously, the filing date was the second-half of next year and the acceleration means the drug will have gone from first tests in humans to regulatory submission in a record time of just over two years.

AstraZeneca is in a race with U.S. biotech company Clovis Oncology, which is developing a similar medicine.

Scientists at the British drugmaker also plan to move several more experimental cancer medicines into clinical testing that would boost the immune system's ability to fight tumours in novel ways. (Editing by Sophie Walker and Anna Willard)