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AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and
biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used by ...
company with its headquarters at the
Cambridge Biomedical Campus The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe. The site is located at the southern end of Hills Road in Cambridge, England. Over 20,000 people work at the site, which is home to Cambridg ...
in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge becam ...
, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas including oncology,
cardiovascular The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, t ...
, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience,
respiratory The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies gre ...
, and inflammation. It has been involved in developing the
Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria among others, is a viral vector vaccine for prevention of COVID-19. Developed in the United Kingdom by Oxford University and British-Swedish comp ...
. The company was founded in 1999 through the merger of the Swedish Astra AB and the British
Zeneca Group Zeneca (officially Zeneca Group PLC) was a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in June 1993 by the demerger of the pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals businesses of Imperial Chemic ...
(itself formed by the demerger of the pharmaceutical operations of Imperial Chemical Industries in 1993). Since the merger it has been among the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and has made numerous corporate acquisitions, including
Cambridge Antibody Technology Cambridge Antibody Technology (officially Cambridge Antibody Technology Group Plc, informally CAT) was a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. Its core focus was on antibody therapeutics, primarily using Pha ...
(in 2006),
MedImmune MedImmune, LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca before February 14, 2019, when it was announced that the MedImmune name and branding would be discontinued in favor of AstraZeneca. MedImmune was founded in 1988 as Molecular Vaccines, ...
(in 2007), Spirogen (in 2013) and Definiens (by MedImmune in 2014). It has its research and development concentrated in three strategic centres: Cambridge, England; Gothenburg, Sweden and
Gaithersburg Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...
in Maryland, U.S. AstraZeneca has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.


History

Astra AB was founded in 1913 in Södertälje, Sweden, by 400 doctors and
apothecaries ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Ameri ...
. In 1993 the British chemicals company ICI (established from four British chemical companies)
demerged A demerger is a form of corporate restructuring in which the entity's business operations are segregated into one or more components. It is the converse of a merger or acquisition. A demerger can take place through a spin-off by distributed or t ...
its
pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and r ...
businesses and its
agrochemicals An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides (pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicides) and syn ...
and specialities businesses, to form Zeneca Group PLC. Finally, in 1999 Astra and Zeneca Group merged to form AstraZeneca plc, with its headquarters in London. In 1999, AstraZeneca identified a new location for the company's US base, the "Fairfax-plus" site in North Wilmington, Delaware.


2000–06

In 2002, its drug
Iressa Gefitinib, sold under the brand name Iressa, is a medication used for certain breast, lung and other cancers. Gefitinib is an EGFR inhibitor, like erlotinib, which interrupts signaling through the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in targe ...
(gefitinib) was approved in Japan as
monotherapy Combination therapy or polytherapy is therapy that uses more than one medication or modality. Typically, the term refers to using multiple therapies to treat a ''single'' disease, and often all the therapies are pharmaceutical (although it can also ...
for non-small cell lung cancer. On 3 January 2004 Dr Robert Nolan, a former director of AstraZeneca, formed the management team of ZI Medical. In 2005, the company acquired KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, a UK biotech company, for £120 million. and entered into an anti-cancer collaboration agreement with
Astex Astex Pharmaceuticals ("Astex") is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs in oncology and diseases of the central nervous system. Astex was founded in 1999 by Sir Tom Blundell, Chris Abell & Harren Jhoti, and ...
It also announced that it had become a Diamond Member of the Pennsylvania Bio commerce organisation. In 2006, following a collaborative relationship begun in 2004, AstraZeneca acquired
Cambridge Antibody Technology Cambridge Antibody Technology (officially Cambridge Antibody Technology Group Plc, informally CAT) was a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. Its core focus was on antibody therapeutics, primarily using Pha ...
for £702 million.


2007–12: The patent cliff and subsequent acquisitions

In February 2007, AstraZeneca agreed to buy Arrow Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of anti-viral therapies, for US$150million. AstraZeneca's pipeline, and "patent cliff", was the subject of much speculation in April 2007 leading to pipeline-boosting collaboration and acquisition activities. A few days later AstraZeneca acquired US company
MedImmune MedImmune, LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca before February 14, 2019, when it was announced that the MedImmune name and branding would be discontinued in favor of AstraZeneca. MedImmune was founded in 1988 as Molecular Vaccines, ...
for about US$15.2 billion to gain flu vaccines and an anti-viral treatment for infants; AstraZeneca subsequently consolidated all of its biologics operations into a dedicated biologics division called MedImmune.AstraZeneca Buys MedImmune for US$ 15.6 Billion
''The New York Times'', 24 April 2007
In 2010, AstraZeneca acquired Novexel Corp, an antibiotics discovery company formed in 2004 as a spin-off of the Sanofi-Aventis anti-infectives division. Astra acquired the experimental antibiotic NXL-104 (CEF104) (CAZ-AVI) through this acquisition. In 2011, AstraZeneca acquired Guangdong BeiKang Pharmaceutical Company, a Chinese generics business. In February 2012, AstraZeneca and Amgen announced a collaboration on treatments for inflammatory diseases. Then in April 2012, AstraZeneca acquired Ardea Biosciences, another biotechnology company, for $1.26 billion. In June 2012, AstraZeneca and
Bristol Myers Squibb The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...
announced a two-stage deal for the joint acquisition of the biotechnology company
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Amylin Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, CA, that was founded in 1987. The company was engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and othe ...
. It was agreed that Bristol Myers Squibb would acquire Amylin for $5.3 billion in cash and the assumption of $1.7 billion in debt, with AstraZeneca then paying $3.4 billion in cash to Bristol Myers Squibb, and Amylin being folded into an existing diabetes joint venture between AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb.


2013 restructuring and beyond


2013

In March 2013 AstraZeneca announced plans for a major corporate restructuring, including the closure of its research and development activities at
Alderley Park Alderley Park was a country estate at Nether Alderley, Cheshire, England, between Macclesfield and Knutsford. It was the residence of the Stanley family of Alderley from the 1500s. It became the headquarters of ICI Pharmaceuticals in the 1950s. ...
in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...
and
Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...
in the UK and at Lund in Sweden, investment of $500million in the construction of a new research and development facility in Cambridge and the concentration of R&D in three locations: Cambridge, Gaithersburg, Maryland (location of MedImmune, where it will work on biotech drugs), and Gothenburg in Sweden, for research on traditional chemical drugs. AstraZeneca also announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from London to Cambridge in 2016. That announcement included the announcement that it would cut 1,600 jobs; three days later it announced it would cut an additional 2,300 jobs. It also announced that it would focus on three therapeutic areas: Respiratory Inflammation & Autoimmunity, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease, and Oncology. In October 2013, AstraZeneca announced it would acquire biotech oncology company Spirogen for around US$440 million.


2014

On 19 May 2014 AstraZeneca rejected a "final offer" from Pfizer of £55 per share, which valued the company at £69.4billion (US$117billion). The companies had been meeting since January 2014. If the takeover had proceeded, Pfizer would have become the world's biggest drug maker. The transaction would also have been the biggest foreign takeover of a British company. Many in Britain, including politicians and scientists, had opposed the deal. In July 2014 the company entered into a deal with
Almirall Almirall, S.A. is a Spanish pharmaceutical company, with headquarters in Barcelona, founded in 1943. In 2016, it generated total revenue of €859.3 million and became the leading pharmaceutical company in R&D investment in Spain. With over ...
to acquire its subsidiary Almirall Sofotec and its lung treatments including the COPD drug, Eklira. The US$2.1 billion deal included an allocation of US$1.2 billion for development in the respiratory franchise, one of AstraZeneca's three target therapeutic areas announced the year before. In August 2014 the company announced it had entered into a three-year collaboration with
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation is a Japanese pharmaceuticals company from Osaka, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. was formed in 2001 from the merger of Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals and Welfide Corporation. On ...
on
diabetic nephropathy Diabetic nephropathy, also known as diabetic kidney disease, is the chronic loss of kidney function occurring in those with diabetes mellitus. Diabetic nephropathy is the leading causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease ...
. In September 2014 the company would join forces with
Eli Lilly Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was an American soldier, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and r ...
in developing and commercialising its candidate
BACE inhibitor Beta-secretase 1, also known as beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1, beta-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), membrane-associated aspartic protease 2, memapsin-2, aspartyl protease 2, and ASP2, is an enzyme that in humans is enco ...
– AZD3292 – used for the treatment of
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...
. The deal could yield up to US$500 million for the company. In November 2014 the company's
biologics A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, th ...
R&D operation, MedImmune, agreed to acquire Definiens for more than US$150 million. The company also began a Phase I/II trial collaboration with Pharmacyclics and
Janssen Biotech Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American c ...
investigating combination treatments. Also in November of the same year, the company agreed to sell its
lipodystrophy Lipodystrophy syndromes are a group of genetic or acquired disorders in which the body is unable to produce and maintain healthy fat tissue. The medical condition is characterized by abnormal or degenerative conditions of the body's adipose tissue. ...
treatment business to Aegerion Pharmaceuticals for more than US$325 million. In December, the company received accelerated FDA approval for
Olaparib Olaparib, sold under the brand name Lynparza, is a medication for the maintenance treatment of BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer in adults. It is a PARP inhibitor, inhibiting poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), an enzyme involved in DNA repai ...
in the treatment of women with advanced ovarian cancer who have a BRCA genetic mutation. A major criterion governing the drugs approval was, on average, its ability to shrink tumours in patients for 7.9 months.


2015

In February, the company announced it would acquire the US and Canadian rights to Actavis's branded respiratory drug business for an initial sum of US$600 million. Later in the same month the company announced it would partner with Orca Pharmaceuticals to develop retinoic acid-related orphan nuclear receptor gamma inhibitors for use in the treatment of a number of autoimmune diseases, which could generate up to US$122.5 million for Orca. The company also announced its plan to spend US$40 million creating a new subsidiary focused on small molecule anti-infectives – primarily in the research of the
gyrase DNA gyrase, or simply gyrase, is an enzyme within the class of topoisomerase and is a subclass of Type II topoisomerases that reduces topological strain in an ATP dependent manner while double-stranded DNA is being unwound by elongating RNA-poly ...
inhibitor, AZD0914, which is currently in Phase II for the treatment of gonorrhea. The company underwrote twenty out of thirty-two seats of a new Cambridge– Gothenburg service by
Sun-Air of Scandinavia SUN-AIR of Scandinavia A/S, usually shortened to SUN-AIR, is a Danish regional airline headquartered in Billund, with its main base at Billund Airport. It operates scheduled services as a franchise of British Airways using their name and co ...
. In mid-March the company announced it would co-commercialise
naloxegol Naloxegol (INN; PEGylated naloxol; trade names Movantik and Moventig) is a peripherally acting μ-opioid receptor antagonist developed by AstraZeneca, licensed from Nektar Therapeutics, for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation. It was ap ...
along with Daiichi Sankyo in a deal worth up to US$825 million. Towards the end of April the company announced a number of collaborations worth an estimated US$1.8 billion; first, to develop and commercialise MEDI4736, with
Celgene Celgene Corporation is a pharmaceutical company that makes cancer and immunology drugs. Its major product is Revlimid (lenalidomide), which is used in the treatment of multiple myeloma, and also in certain anemias. The company is incorporated in ...
, for use against
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredn ...
, myelodysplastic syndromes, and
multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, anem ...
with AstraZeneca receiving US$450 million. The second of two deals is an agreement to study a combination treatment of MEDI4736 and Innate Pharma's Phase II anti-NKG2A antibody
IPH2201 Monalizumab (formerly IPH2201) is an investigational drug being studied for rheumatoid arthritis, gynecologic malignancies and other cancers. Mechanism of action Monalizumab is a monoclonal antibody targeted at NKG2A. It is a checkpoint inhibi ...
for up to US$1.275 billion. The company's MedImmune arm also launched collaborative clinical trials with
Juno Therapeutics Juno Therapeutics Inc is an American biopharmaceutical company founded in 2013 through a collaboration of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and pediatrics partner Seattle Children's Research Instit ...
, investigating combination treatments for cancer. The trials will assess combinations of MEDI4736 and one of Juno Therapeutics' CD19 directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell candidates. In late June the company announced it has entered into a partnership agreement with Eolas Therapeutics on the Eolas Orexin-1 Receptor Antagonist (EORA) program for smoking cessation and other treatments. In July the company announced it would sell off its rights to Entocort (
budesonide Budesonide, sold under the brand name Pulmicort among others, is a medication of the corticosteroid type. It is available as an inhaler, nebulization solution, pill, nasal spray, and rectal forms. The inhaled form is used in the long-term mana ...
) to Tillotts Pharma for US$215 million. In July 2015, Genzyme announced it would acquire the rare cancer drug Caprelsa (
vandetanib Vandetanib, sold under the brand name Caprelsa, is an anti-cancer medication that is used for the treatment of certain tumours of the thyroid gland. It acts as a kinase inhibitor of a number of cell receptors, mainly the vascular endothelial gro ...
) from AstraZeneca for up to US$300 million. In August, the company announced it had acquired the global rights to develop and commercialise Heptares Therapeutics' drug candidate HTL-1071, which focuses on blocking the
adenosine Adenosine (symbol A) is an organic compound that occurs widely in nature in the form of diverse derivatives. The molecule consists of an adenine attached to a ribose via a β-N9-glycosidic bond. Adenosine is one of the four nucleoside building b ...
A2A receptor, in a deal worth up to US$510 million. In the same month the company's MedImmune subsidiary acquired exclusive rights to Inovio Pharmaceuticals' INO-3112 immunotherapy, currently in Phase I/II, under an agreement which could net more than US$727.5 million for Inovio. INO-3112 targets Human papillomavirus types 16 and 18. In September, Valeant licensed Brodalumab from the company for up to US$445 million. On 6 November it was reported that AstraZeneca had acquired ZS Pharma for US$2.7 billion. In December the company announced its intention to acquire the respiratory portfolio of
Takeda Pharmaceutical The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, with partial American and British roots. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (top 10 followin ...
– namely Alvesco and Omnaris – for US$575 million A day later, the company announced it had taken a 55% majority stake in Acerta for US$4 billion. As part of the transaction the company will gain commercial rights to Acerta's irreversible oral
Bruton's tyrosine kinase Bruton's tyrosine kinase (abbreviated Btk or BTK), also known as tyrosine-protein kinase BTK, is a tyrosine kinase that is encoded by the ''BTK'' gene in humans. BTK plays a crucial role in B cell development. Structure BTK contains five differ ...
inhibitor,
acalabrutinib Acalabrutinib, sold under the brand name Calquence, is a medication used to treat various types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic leukemia (CLL/SLL). It may be used ...
(ACP-196), which is currently in Phase III development for B-cell blood cancers and in Phase I or II clinical trials in solid tumours. In 2015, it was the eighth-largest drug company in the world based on sales revenue.


2017

In July 2017, the company's CEO
Pascal Soriot Sir Pascal Claude Roland Soriot (born 23 May 1959) is a French-born Australian businessman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca. Early life Pascal Soriot was ...
said that
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
would not affect its commitment to its current plans in the United Kingdom. However, it had slowed decision making for new investment projects waiting for a post-Brexit regulatory regime to settle down. In September 2017, the company's chairman Leif Johansson planned in taking the "first steps" in moving its research and manufacturing operations away from the United Kingdom, if there is a hard Brexit. In 2017, it was the eleventh largest drug company in the world based on sales and ranked seventh based on R&D investment. In January EVP Pam Cheng stated that AstraZeneca has ignited startup of duplicate QA testing facility in Sweden and has initiated hiring in Sweden.


2018

In February 2018, AstraZeneca announced it was spinning off six early-stage experimental drugs into a new biotechnology company, known as Viela Bio, valued at US$250 million. On 6 December 2018, AstraZeneca purchased nearly 8% of the American pharmaceutical business,
Moderna Moderna, Inc. ( ) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to produ ...
.


2019

In March 2019, AstraZeneca announced it will pay up to US$6.9 billion to work with Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd on an experimental treatment for breast cancer. AstraZeneca plans to use some of the proceeds of a US$3.5 billion share issue to fund the deal. The deal on the drug known as trastuzumab deruxtecan sent shares in Japan's Daiichi soaring 16%. In September 2019, the company announced that it would cease drug production at its German headquarters in
Wedel Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and west of Hamburg. History Foundation and Middle Ages The first known mention of ...
, leading to the loss of 175 jobs by the end of 2021. In October 2019, AstraZeneca announced it would sell the global commercial rights for its drug to treat acid reflux to German pharmaceutical company Cheplapharm Arzneimittel GmbH for as much as US$276 million.


2020

In February 2020, AstraZeneca agreed to sublicense its global rights (except Europe, Canada and Israel) to the drug Movantik, to Redhill Biopharma. In June 2020, AstraZeneca made a preliminary approach to
Gilead Sciences Gilead Sciences, Inc. () is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and C ...
about a potential merger, worth almost US$240 billion. However, these plans were subsequently dropped because it would have distracted the company from its own pipeline and ongoing COVID-19 vaccine efforts. In July 2020, the business entered into its second collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo, centred around the development of DS-1062, an antibody drug conjugate. The deal could potentially be worth up to US$6 billion for Daiichi. In September 2020, AstraZeneca acquired the preclinical oral PCSK9 inhibitor program from Dogma Therapeutics. On 27 December 2020, AstraZeneca CEO
Pascal Soriot Sir Pascal Claude Roland Soriot (born 23 May 1959) is a French-born Australian businessman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca. Early life Pascal Soriot was ...
said that they have “figured out the winning formula” with their two-dose system with the Oxford University’s
COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an es ...
. On 30 December 2020, the United Kingdom approved the emergency use of the
Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria among others, is a viral vector vaccine for prevention of COVID-19. Developed in the United Kingdom by Oxford University and British-Swedish comp ...
.


2021

In July 2021, AstraZeneca acquired
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Alexion Pharmaceuticals is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that specializes in orphan drugs to treat rare diseases. It became an independent subsidiary of AstraZeneca in 2021. Its products include eculi ...
. In October 2021, the company, through Alexion, acquired Caelum Biosciences and its monoclonal treatment (CAEL-101) for light chain (AL)
amyloidosis Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal proteins, known as amyloid fibrils, build up in tissue. There are several non-specific and vague signs and symptoms associated with amyloidosis. These include fatigue, peripheral edema, weigh ...
for up to $500 million.


2022

In July, the company announced it would acquire TeneoTwo for up to $1.3 billion, increasing its blood cancer drug offering. In October 2022 it was announced that the company would acquire LogicBio Therapeutics, which was active in clinical-stage
genomic medicine Medical genetics is the branch tics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the caus ...
. In November 2022, it was announced AstraZeneca had acquired the Amsterdam-headquartered clinical-stage biotechnology company, Neogene Therapeutics.


Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca's COVID-19 pandemic response


The road to authorisation by the European Medicines Agency

In March 2020, the company announced that it would be donating PPE, including 9 million face masks, to help support various international health organisations mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, Chief Executive
Pascal Soriot Sir Pascal Claude Roland Soriot (born 23 May 1959) is a French-born Australian businessman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca. Early life Pascal Soriot was ...
, reported that the company was working with
GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...
and the University of Cambridge to develop a new laboratory capable of conducting 30,000 COVID-19 tests per day. The company also announced plans for a clinical trial to assess the potential use of Calquence in the treatment of COVID-19. In June 2020, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) confirmed that the third phase of testing for potential
vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.< ...
developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca would begin in July 2020. One of them, AZD1222, reached phase III trials. On 23 November 2020, Oxford–AstraZeneca announced the vaccine's successful trial, preventing 70% of people developing symptoms. The researchers thought that the figure might be as high as 90% if they tweaked the dose. In January 2021, India approved the use of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine, paving the way for a mass immunisation campaign in the world's second most populous country. It was announced that the Oxford–AstraZeneca shot would be made locally by the
Serum Institute of India Serum Institute of India (SII) is an Indian biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals company, based in Pune. It is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines. It was founded by Cyrus Poonawalla in 1966 and is a part of Cyrus Poonawalla Group. ...
(SII) with a brand name COVISHIELD.


Side-effects

On 29 January 2021, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended granting a conditional marketing authorisation for AZD1222 in people from 18 years of age. By mid-March 2021, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria and Ireland had suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to worries over six cases of a "rare combination" of blood clots with lowered blood platelets, see
embolic and thrombotic events after COVID-19 vaccination Post-vaccination embolic and thrombotic events, termed vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT), thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), vaccine-induced imm ...
. The temporary halt was against the advice of the European Union's medicines regulator who said the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh any potential risks. EMA issued a statement on 18 March 2021 stating that no association between vaccination with AstraZeneca vaccines and clot-related cases had been found, but this could not be ruled out and further investigations were being carried out. The EMA also stressed that the benefits of AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks of possible side effects.


Name change

On 30 March 2021, the Swedish Medicines Agency, Läkemedelsverket, announced that following the prior approval of the EMA it would change the name of the vaccine to Vaxzevria, stressing that only the name of the vaccine would change, not the composition.


Side-effects

On 6 April 2021, EMA head of vaccines Marco Cavaleri announced that it could be declared that there was a link between the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 (Vaxzevria) vaccine and rare blood clots associated with low platelet counts. In a statement the following day, the EMA confirmed the link, but continued to recommend the vaccine, saying the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks. Later, a Scottish vaccine efficacy study confirmed the validity of this statement, showing an 88 percent reduction in the risk of hospitalization after the first dose of Vaxzevria from the fourth week onwards. The European Medicines Agency also identified, over time, the development of the rare neurological disease Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) as a possible side effect of Vaxzevria. By the time of the EMA's decision in September 2021, Guillain-Barré syndrome was unlikely to have occurred, with only 833 cases of GBS reported in 8 months following the administration of 592 million doses of the vaccine. In December 2021, the scientists from
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U ...
and
Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = ...
identified “the trigger” behind blood clots. Professor Alan Parker said: “Our data confirms
PF4 Platelet factor 4 (PF4) is a small cytokine belonging to the CXC chemokine family that is also known as chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 4 (CXCL4) . This chemokine is released from alpha-granules of activated platelets during platelet aggregation ...
can bind to adenoviruses, an important step in unravelling the mechanism underlying
VITT The fishing village of Vitt lies on the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen, more precisely on the Wittow peninsula near Cape Arkona. The village is part of the municipality of Putgarten. Because of its location in a coastal gully on the cli ...
. Establishing a mechanism could help to prevent and treat this disorder.”


Lawsuits

In April 2021, the European Commission announced that it would sue Astra Zeneca for delaying the timely delivery of Vaxzevria at a time when "every vaccine counts, because every vaccine can save lives". In September 2021, the lawsuit was finally settled with AstraZeneca agreeing to deliver 60 million doses of vaccines to EU member states by October, 75 million by the end of the year, and 65 million more by April 2022.


Acquisition history

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors: * AstraZeneca ** AstraZeneca (Merged 1999) *** Astra AB (Founded 1913) **** Tika (Acq 1939) ***
Zeneca Zeneca (officially Zeneca Group PLC) was a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in June 1993 by the demerger of the pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals businesses of Imperial Chemi ...
(Spun off from Imperial Chemical Industries, 1993) **** Salick Health Care (Acq 1996) **** Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha (US fungicide operations, Acq 1997) ** KuDOS Pharmaceuticals (Acq 2005) ** MedImmune Biologics ***
Cambridge Antibody Technology Cambridge Antibody Technology (officially Cambridge Antibody Technology Group Plc, informally CAT) was a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. Its core focus was on antibody therapeutics, primarily using Pha ...
(Acq 2006) **** Aptein Inc (Acq 1998) ***
MedImmune MedImmune, LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca before February 14, 2019, when it was announced that the MedImmune name and branding would be discontinued in favor of AstraZeneca. MedImmune was founded in 1988 as Molecular Vaccines, ...
(Acq 2007) **** Definiens (Acq 2014) ** Arrow Therapeutics (Acq 2007) ** Novexel Corp (Acq 2010) ** Guangdong BeiKang Pharmaceutical Company (Acq 2011) ** Ardea Biosciences (Acq 2012) **
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Amylin Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, CA, that was founded in 1987. The company was engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and othe ...
(Acq 2012 jointly with
Bristol-Myers Squibb The Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in New York City, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the ''Fortune'' 500 list of the lar ...
)
** Spirogen (Acq 2013) ** Pearl Therapeutics (Acq 2013) ** Omthera Pharmaceuticals (Acq 2013) ** ZS Pharma (Acq 2015) **
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Alexion Pharmaceuticals is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that specializes in orphan drugs to treat rare diseases. It became an independent subsidiary of AstraZeneca in 2021. Its products include eculi ...
(Acq 2021) *** Proliferon Inc (Acq 2000, restructured into Alexion Antibody Technologies Inc) *** Enobia Pharma Corp (Acq 2011) *** Synageva BioPharma (Acq 2015) *** Wilson Therapeutics (Acq 2018) *** Syntimmune (Acq 2018) *** Achillion Pharmaceuticals (Acq 2019) *** Portola Pharmaceuticals (Acq 2020) *** Caelum Biosciences (Acq 2021) ** TeneoTwo (Acq 2022)


Operations

AstraZeneca develops, manufactures and sells pharmaceutical and biotechnology products to treat disorders in the oncology,
cardiovascular The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, t ...
, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience,
respiratory The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies gre ...
and inflammation areas. AstraZeneca has its corporate headquarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and its main research and development (R&D) centres are in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge becam ...
(UK),
Gaithersburg Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...
(Maryland, US), Gothenburg (Sweden) and Warsaw (Poland).


Orphan drugs

In April 2015, AstraZeneca's drug
tremelimumab Tremelimumab, sold under the brand name Imjudo, is a fully human monoclonal antibody against CTLA-4. It is an immune checkpoint blocker. Tremelimumab was approved for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma medical use in the United States in O ...
was approved as an
orphan drug An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent developed to treat medical conditions which, because they are so rare, would not be profitable to produce without government assistance. The conditions are referred to as orphan diseases. The assignment o ...
for the treatment of mesothelioma in the United States. In February 2016, AstraZeneca announced that a
clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...
of tremelimumab as a treatment for mesothelioma failed to meet its primary endpoint.


Senior management

As of 2008, David Brennan was paid US$1,574,144 for his role as chief executive officer. On 26 April 2012, it was announced that Brennan was to retire in early June of that year.AstraZeneca boss David Brennan quits under pressure from investors
''The Guardian'', 26 April 2012
In August 2012,
Pascal Soriot Sir Pascal Claude Roland Soriot (born 23 May 1959) is a French-born Australian businessman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca. Early life Pascal Soriot was ...
was named CEO of AstraZeneca. It was also announced that Leif Johansson would succeed Louis Schweitzer as non-executive chairman on 1 June 2012, three months earlier than previously announced, and would become Chairman of the Nomination and Governance Committee after the 2012 Annual General Meeting. The company's non-executive Board directors are Philip Broadley,
Euan Ashley Euan Angus Ashley is a Scottish physician, scientist, author, and founder based at Stanford University in California where he is Associate Dean in the School of Medicine and holds the Roger and Joelle Burnell Chair of Genomics and Precision He ...
, Michel Demaré, Deborah DiSanzo, Diana Layfield, Sheri McCoy, Tony Mok, Nazneen Rahman, Andreas Rummelt, and Marcus Wallenberg.


Outreach


Political lobbying

AstraZeneca is a member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a medical research advocacy group that lobbies on behalf of the
pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...
.


Controversies


Seroquel

In April 2010, AstraZeneca settled a '' qui tam'' lawsuit brought by Stefan P. Kruszewski for US$520 million to settle allegations that the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-funded health care programs in connection with its marketing and promotional practices for the blockbuster atypical antipsychotic,
Seroquel Quetiapine, sold under the brand name Seroquel among others, is an atypical antipsychotic medication used for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Despite being widely used as a sleep aid due to its ...
. According to the settlement agreement, AstraZeneca targeted its illegal marketing of the anti-psychotic Seroquel towards doctors who do not typically treat schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, such as physicians who treat the elderly, primary care physicians, pediatric and adolescent physicians, and in long-term care facilities and prisons. In March 2011, AstraZeneca settled a lawsuit in the United States totalling US$68.5 million to be divided up to 38 states.


Nexium

The company's most commercially successful medication is
esomeprazole Esomeprazole, sold under the brand name Nexium among others, is a medication which reduces stomach acid. It is used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, peptic ulcer disease, and Zollinger–Ellison syndrome. Effectiveness is similar to o ...
(Nexium). The primary uses are treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, treatment and maintenance of
erosive esophagitis Esophagitis, also spelled oesophagitis, is a disease characterized by inflammation of the esophagus. The esophagus is a tube composed of a mucosal lining, and longitudinal and circular smooth muscle fibers. It connects the pharynx to the stomach; ...
, treatment of
duodenal ulcers Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines i ...
caused by '' Helicobacter pylori'', prevention of
gastric ulcers Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines i ...
in those on chronic NSAID therapy, and treatment of gastrointestinal ulcers associated with
Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension, ...
. When it is manufactured the result is a mixture of two mirror-imaged molecules, R and S. Two years before the omeprazole patent expired, AstraZeneca patented S-omeprazole in pure form, pointing out that since some people metabolise R-omeprazole slowly, pure S-omeprazole treatment would give higher dose efficiency and less variation between individuals. In March 2001, the company began to market Nexium, as it would a brand new drug. The (R)-enantiomer of omeprazole is metabolized exclusively by the enzyme CYP2C19, which is expressed in very low amounts by 3% of the population. Treated with a normal dose of the enantiomeric mixture, these persons will experience blood levels five-times higher than those with normal CYP2C19 production. In contrast, esomeprazole is metabolized by both CYP2C19 and CYP3A4, providing less-variable drug exposure. While omeprazole is approved only at doses of up to 20 mg for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux, esomeprazole is approved for doses up to 40 mg. In 2007,
Marcia Angell Marcia Angell (; born April 20, 1939) is an American physician, author, and the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the '' New England Journal of Medicine''. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social ...
, former editor-in-chief of the '' New England Journal of Medicine'' and a lecturer in
social medicine The field of social medicine seeks to implement social care through # understanding how social and economic conditions impact health, disease and the practice of medicine and # fostering conditions in which this understanding can lead to a health ...
at the Harvard Medical School, said in '' Stern'', a German-language weekly newsmagazine, that AstraZeneca's scientists had misrepresented their research on the drug's efficiency, saying: "Instead of using presumably comparable doses f each drug the company's scientists used Nexium in higher dosages. They compared 20 and 40 mg Nexium with 20 mg Prilosec. With the cards having been marked in that way, Nexium looked like an improvement – which however was only small and shown in only two of the three studies."


Bildman fraud, sexual harassment and faithless servant clawback

On 4 February 1998, Astra USA sued Lars Bildman, its former president and chief executive officer, seeking US$15 million for defrauding the company. The sum included US$2.3 million in company funds he allegedly used to fix up three of his homes, plus money the company paid as the result of the EEOC investigation. Astra's lawsuit alleged Bildman sexually harassed and intimidated employees, used company funds for yachts and prostitutes, destroyed documents and records, and concocted: "tales of
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agr ...
involving ex-
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
s and competitors. This was in a last-ditch effort to distract attention from the real wrongdoer, Bildman himself." Bildman had already
pleaded guilty In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law using the adversarial system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response ...
in
US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
for failing to report more than US$1 million in income on his
tax return A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer. Taxation is one ...
s. In addition, several female co-workers filed personal sexual-harassment lawsuits against Bildman. In April 1998, Bildman was sentenced to 21 months in prison three months after he pled guilty to filing false Federal tax returns. In February 1998, AstraZenaca's U.S. affiliate Astra U.S.A. agreed to a $10 million settlement after an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation which started in May 1996 found that sexual harassment against female employees. 120 former female employees of Astra were interviewed during the inquiry, with about 80 of them being identified as able to file claims. Astra U.S.A. also issued a statement of apology for the hostile work environment. In ''Astra USA v. Bildman'', 914 N.E.2d 36 (Mass. 2009), applying New York's
faithless servant The faithless servant doctrine is a doctrine under the laws of a number of states in the United States, and most notably New York State law, pursuant to which employees who act unfaithfully towards their employers must forfeit to their employers a ...
doctrine, the court held that a company's employee who had engaged in financial misdeeds and sexual harassment must "forfeit all of his salary and bonuses for the period of disloyalty". The court held that this was the case even if the employee "otherwise performed valuable services", and that the employee was not entitled to recover restitution for the value of those other services. The decision attracted a good deal of attention by legal commentators.


CAFÉ study

In 2004, University of Minnesota research participant Dan Markingson
committed suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...
while enrolled in an industry-sponsored pharmaceutical trial comparing three FDA-approved atypical antipsychotics: Seroquel (quetiapine), Zyprexa (olanzapine), and Risperdal (risperidone). University of Minnesota Professor of Bioethics
Carl Elliott Carl Atwood Elliott (December 20, 1913 – January 9, 1999) was a U.S. representative from the U.S. state of Alabama. He was elected to eight consecutive terms, having served from 1949 to 1965. Background Elliott was born in rural Frankl ...
noted that Markingson was enrolled in the study against the wishes of his mother, Mary Weiss, and that he was forced to choose between enrolling in the study or being involuntarily committed to a state mental institution. A 2005 FDA investigation cleared the university. Nonetheless, controversy around the case has continued. A ''Mother Jones'' article resulted in a group of university faculty members sending a public letter to the university Board of Regents urging an external investigation into Markingson's death.


Transfer mispricing

In 2010, AstraZeneca agreed to pay £505 million to settle a UK tax dispute related to transfer mispricing.


Conflicting commitments to the UK and the EU

In August 2020 AstraZeneca declared towards the European Commission and the EU member states: :"13.1. AstraZeneca represents, warrants and covenants to the Commission and the Participating Member States that: ..(e) it is not under any obligation, contractual or otherwise, to any Person or third party in respect of the Initial Europe Doses or that conflicts with or is inconsistent in any material respect with the terms of this Agreement or would impede the complete fulfilment of its obligation under this Agreement;" However, the UK
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The incumbent ...
, Matt Hancock, declared in March 2021 that the United Kingdom had been given "exclusivity" and that the EU's treaty was "inferior". After placing the order for AstraZeneca's vaccine, the European Commission mistakenly assumed that it had enough vaccines and initially ordered only 200 million doses from Pfizer–BioNTech when the manufacturers offered 500 million doses to the EU in November 2020. However, the contract that AstraZeneca reached with the UK was very similar to that it reached with the EU, and it also contained the phrase "best reasonable efforts"; the UK contract was signed on 28 August 2020, a day after the contract with the EU. The key difference seems to be that AstraZeneca entered into a preliminary agreement with the U.K. back in May 2020 which arranged for "the development of a dedicated supply chain for the U.K." The failure to produce the vaccine in the anticipated quantities contributed to the low vaccination rates of vulnerable populations of the European Union at the beginning of the outbreak of more virulent variants of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2021.


See also

*
Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom The pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom directly employs around 73,000 people and in 2007 contributed £8.4 billion to the UK's GDP and invested a total of £3.9 billion in research and development. In 2007 exports of pharmaceutical pro ...
* List of pharmaceutical companies


Notes


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Astrazeneca Swedish companies established in 1999 British companies established in 1999 British brands Swedish brands Companies based in Cambridge Biotechnology companies established in 1999 Pharmaceutical companies established in 1999 Multinational companies headquartered in Sweden Multinational companies headquartered in England Pharmaceutical companies of England Pharmaceutical companies of Sweden Biotechnology companies of the United Kingdom Biotechnology companies of Sweden Life sciences industry Orphan drug companies Vaccine producers Medical research Södertälje Municipality Companies related to the Wallenberg family Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm COVID-19 vaccine producers