AstraZeneca plc

AstraZeneca PLC

Type	Public LSE, NYSE and OMX: AZN
Founded	6 April 1999 by merger
Location	Corporate HQ in London, England R&D HQ in Södertälje, Sweden
Key people	Sir Tom McKillop CEO David Brennan Vice President, North America and CEO-designate Louis Schweitzer Chairman John Symonds CFO John Patterson Director, Drug Development
Industry	{{{industry}}}
Products	Pharmaceutical products for humans
Revenue	{{{revenue}}}
Website	www.astrazeneca.com

AstraZeneca PLC^[1], is a large Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company formed on 6 April 1999 by the merger of Swedish Astra AB and British Zeneca Group PLC. Zeneca was part of Imperial Chemical Industries prior to a demerger in 1993.^[2][3] AstraZeneca develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals to treat disorders in the gastrointestinal, cardiac and vascular, neurological and psychiatric, infection, respiratory, pathological inflammation and oncology areas.

Sales in 2003 totalled $18.8 billion, with a profit before tax of $4.2 billion. Total R&D spending was $3.5 billion. The corporate headquarters are in London, UK, the research and development (R&D) headquarters are in Södertälje, Sweden. Major R&D centres are located on three continents in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, and India.

The current chief executive of AstraZeneca is Sir Tom McKillop. It has been announced that McKillop will be retiring from the CEO role as of 1st Jan 2006 to be replaced by David Brennan.^[4]

Profiles

• Yahoo profile

Diversity

AstraZeneca is one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 according to Working Mothers magazine.^[5]

Products

AstraZeneca specialises in prescription medicines to fight disease in the several therapeutic areas. Year-on sales information can be found through AstraZeneca annual reports. The following is a list of key products as found on the AstraZeneca US website, retrieved 2005-03-27.

• Gastrointestinal
  • Entocort
  • Losec/Prilosec
  • Nexium (purified stereoisomer of Losec)

• Cardiovascular
  • Atacand
  • Crestor (2003 launch)
  • Exanta (2004 launch; not approved in the United States)
  • Imdur
  • Indural
  • Lexxel
  • Logimax
  • Nif-Ten
  • Plendil
  • Ramace
  • Seloken ZOK/Toprol-XL (#1 beta blocker by sales globally in 2004)
  • Tenoretic
  • Tenormin
  • Unimax
  • Zestoretic
  • Zestril

• Respiratory and Inflammation
  • Accolate
  • Bambec
  • Bricanyl
  • Oxis
  • Pulmicort
  • Rhinocort
  • Symbicort

• Oncology
  • Arimidex
  • Casodex
  • Faslodex
  • Iressa
  • Nolvadex
  • Tomudex
  • Zoladex
  • in development
    • Zactima (Phase III clinical trial - Press release)

• Neuroscience
  • Indural
  • Mysoline (handed over to Acorus Therapeutics Ltd. in July of 2004)
  • Seroquel
  • Vivalan
  • Zomig
  • Anaesthetics
    • Carbocaine
    • Citanest
    • Diprivan
    • EMLA (mixture of Lidocaine and Prilocaine)
    • Marcaine/Sensorcaine
    • Naropin
    • Xylocaine

• Infection
  • Apatef/Cefotan
  • Merrem/Meronem

Controversy over Nexium

Nexium, the successor to Prilosec, has according to some commentators "become a symbol of everything that is wrong with the pharmaceutical industry".^[6]

Collaborations and alliances

references in this section appear here rather than as endnotes and should be press releases from one or more of the partners; there should be only one entry for each collaboration and only one informational reference in order to maintain a brief yet informative list

• Astex. Announced 2005. For discovery, development and commercialisation of novel small molecule inhibitors of Protein Kinase B for use as anti-cancer agents. Press release
• Avanir. Announced 2005. For research and licensing in the area of Reverse Cholesterol Transport (RCT) enhancing compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Press release
• Cambridge Antibody Technology. Announced 2004. For monoclonal antibody research, in the area of inflammatory disorders, including respiratory diseases. Press release.
• Schering AG. Announced 2005. For research and licensing in the area of Selective Glucocorticoid Receptor Agonists (SEGRAs). Press release.

See also

• List of pharmaceutical companies

References and notes

1. ^  standard practice is that the name be pronounced as "Astra Zeneca" rather than "Astrazeneca".
2. ^  AstraZeneca - History, merger of Astra AB and Zeneca Group PLC, part of the AstraZeneca home site. Retrieved 2005-03-20. (merger and post-merger history)
3. ^  AstraZeneca: Merger partners in brief, part of the AstraZeneca home site. Retrieved 2005-03-20. (history of Astra AB and Zeneca Group PLC)
4. ^  AstraZeneca PLC (July 28, 2005). The Board of AstraZeneca PLC announces the appointment of David R Brennan as Chief Executive with effect from 1 January 2006 upon the retirement at that time of Sir Tom McKillop. Press release.
5. ^  AstraZeneca Profile. Verified availability August 5, 2005.
6. ^  Gladwell, Malcolm (October 25, 2004). "High Prices: How to think about prescription drugs". The New Yorker. Verified availability August 5, 2005.