 | |
 AstraZeneca's headquarters in Cambridge | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| |
| ISIN | GB0009895292 |
| Industry | |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded | 6 April 1999; 26 years ago (1999-04-06) |
| Headquarters | Cambridge Biomedical Campus,, England |
Area served | Global |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Revenue |  US$54.073 billion (2024)[1] |
| US$10.003 billion (2024)[1] | |
| US$7.041 billion (2024)[1] | |
| Total assets | US$104.035 billion (2024)[1] |
| Total equity | US$40.871 billion (2024)[1] |
Number of employees | 89,900 (2025)[2] |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | astrazeneca |
AstraZeneca plc (/ˌæstrəˈzɛnəkə/) (AZ) is a British-Swedish[3][4][5] multinationalpharmaceutical andbiotechnology company with its headquarters at theCambridge Biomedical Campus inCambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includingoncology,cardiovascular,gastrointestinal,infection,neuroscience,respiratory, and inflammation.
The company was founded in 1999 through the merger of the SwedishAstra AB and the BritishZeneca Group[6][7] (itself formed by the demerger of the pharmaceutical operations ofImperial Chemical Industries in 1993). Its portfolio includes primary and speciality care, coverage for rare diseases, and a robust global presence across various regions.[8] Since the merger it has been among the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and has made numerous corporate acquisitions, includingCambridge Antibody Technology (in 2006),MedImmune (in 2007), Spirogen (in 2013) andDefiniens (by MedImmune in 2014). It has itsresearch and development concentrated in three strategic centres: Cambridge, UK;Gothenburg,Sweden;[9][10] andGaithersburg, Maryland, US.[11]
AstraZeneca traces its earliest corporate history to 1913, when Astra AB was formed by a large group of doctors and apothecaries in Södertälje. Throughout the twentieth century, it grew into the largest pharmaceutical company in Sweden. Its British counterpart, Zeneca PLC was formed in 1993 when ICI divested its pharmaceuticals businesses; Astra AB and Zeneca PLC merged six years later, with the chosen headquarters in the United Kingdom.[12]
AstraZeneca's primary listing is on theLondon Stock Exchange and is a constituent of theFTSE 100 Index; it also has a secondary listing onNasdaq Stockholm. It is also listed on the AmericanNasdaq and is aNasdaq-100 company. AstraZeneca has one of the highest market capitalisations of pharmaceutical companies worldwide.[13]
Astra AB was founded in 1913 inSödertälje,Sweden, by 400 doctors andapothecaries.[14] In 1993 the British chemicals companyICI (established from four British chemical companies)demerged itspharmaceuticals businesses and itsagrochemicals and specialities businesses, to formZeneca Group PLC.[15] Finally, in 1999 Astra and Zeneca Group merged to form AstraZeneca plc, with its headquarters in London.[15] In 1999, AstraZeneca identified a new location for the company's US base, the "Fairfax-plus" site in NorthWilmington, Delaware.[16]
In September 2002, its drugIressa (gefitinib) was approved in Japan asmonotherapy fornon-small cell lung cancer.[17] On 3 January 2004 Dr Robert Nolan, a former director of AstraZeneca, formed the management team of ZI Medical.[18]
In December 2005, the company acquired KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, a UK biotech company, for £120 million.[19] and entered into an anti-cancer collaboration agreement withAstex.[20] That same year, the firm also became a Diamond Member of the Pennsylvania Bio commerce organisation.[21]
In May 2006, following a collaborative relationship begun in 2004, AstraZeneca acquiredCambridge Antibody Technology for £702 million.[22]
In February 2007, AstraZeneca agreed to buy Arrow Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of anti-viral therapies, for US$150 million.[23] AstraZeneca's pipeline, and "patent cliff", was the subject of much speculation in April 2007 leading to pipeline-boosting collaboration and acquisition activities.[24] A few days later AstraZeneca acquired US companyMedImmune for about US$15.2 billion to gain flu vaccines and an anti-viral treatment for infants;[25] AstraZeneca subsequently consolidated all of its biologics operations into a dedicated biologics division called MedImmune.[26]
In December 2009, 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.[27][28]
In December 2011, AstraZeneca acquired Guangdong BeiKang Pharmaceutical Company, a Chinese generics business.[29]
In February 2012, AstraZeneca and Amgen announced a collaboration on treatments for inflammatory diseases.[30] Then in April 2012, AstraZeneca acquired Ardea Biosciences, another biotechnology company, for $1.26 billion.[31] In June 2012, AstraZeneca andBristol Myers Squibb announced a two-stage deal for the joint acquisition of the biotechnology companyAmylin Pharmaceuticals.[32][33] 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.[33]
In March 2013, AstraZeneca announced plans for a major corporate restructuring, including the closure of its research and development activities atAlderley Park inCheshire andLoughborough in the UK and atLund in Sweden, investment of $500 million 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), andGothenburg in Sweden,[9][10] for research on traditional chemical drugs.[11] AstraZeneca also announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from London to Cambridge in 2016.[34][35] 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.[36][37] It also announced that it would focus on three therapeutic areas: Respiratory Inflammation & Autoimmunity, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease, and Oncology.[38] In October 2013, AstraZeneca announced it would acquire biotech oncology company Spirogen for around US$440 million.[39]
On 19 May 2014, AstraZeneca rejected a "final offer" fromPfizer of £55 per share, which valued the company at £69.4 billion (US$117 billion). 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.[40] In July 2014 the company entered into a deal withAlmirall to acquire its subsidiary Almirall Sofotec and its lung treatments including theCOPD 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 withMitsubishi Tanabe Pharma ondiabetic nephropathy.[41]
In September 2014, the company joined forces withEli Lilly in developing and commercialising its candidateBACE inhibitor – AZD3292 – used for the treatment ofAlzheimer's disease; this deal was projected to yield up to US$500 million AstraZeneca.[42] In November 2014, the firm'sbiologics R&D operation, MedImmune, agreed to acquireDefiniens for more than US$150 million. It also began a Phase I/II trial collaboration withPharmacyclics andJanssen Biotech investigating combination treatments.[43] Also in November, AstraZeneca agreed to sell itslipodystrophy treatment business to Aegerion Pharmaceuticals for more than US$325 million.[44] In December, the company receivedacceleratedFDA approval forOlaparib in the treatment of women with advancedovarian cancer who have aBRCA genetic mutation. A major criterion governing the drugs approval was, on average, its ability to shrink tumours in patients for 7.9 months.[45]
In February 2015, AstraZeneca announced it would acquire the US and Canadian rights to Actavis's branded respiratory drug business for an initial sum of US$600 million.[46] That same month, the company announced a partnership with Orca Pharmaceuticals to developretinoic acid-related orphan nuclear receptor gamma inhibitors for use in the treatment of several autoimmune diseases, which could generate up to US$122.5 million for Orca.[47] 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 thegyrase inhibitor,AZD0914, which was then in Phase II testing for the treatment ofgonorrhea.[48] The company underwrote twenty out of thirty-two seats of a new Cambridge– Gothenburg service bySun-Air of Scandinavia.[49]
In March, the company stated that it would co-commercialisenaloxegol along withDaiichi Sankyo in a deal worth up to US$825 million.[50] In April, the firm announced a number of collaborations worth an estimated US$1.8 billion; first, to develop and commercialise MEDI4736, withCelgene, for use againstnon-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,myelodysplastic syndromes, andmultiple myeloma 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 antibodyIPH2201 for up to US$1.275 billion. The company's MedImmune arm also launched collaborative clinical trials withJuno Therapeutics, investigating combination treatments for cancer;[51] these trials involved combinations of MEDI4736 and one of Juno Therapeutics' CD19 directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell candidates.[52] In June, the company revealed a partnership with Eolas Therapeutics on the Eolas Orexin-1 Receptor Antagonist (EORA) program for smoking cessation and other treatments.[53] In July, AstraZeneca announced the sale of its rights to Entocort (budesonide) to Tillotts Pharma for $215 million.[54] In July,Genzyme announced it would acquire the rare cancer drug Caprelsa (vandetanib) from AstraZeneca for up to US$300 million.[55]
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 theadenosine A2A receptor, in a deal worth up to US$510 million.[56] That same month, the company's MedImmune subsidiary acquired exclusive rights to Inovio Pharmaceuticals' INO-3112 immunotherapy under an agreement which could net more than US$727.5 million for Inovio. INO-3112 targetsHuman papillomavirus types 16 and 18.[57] In September, Valeant licensedBrodalumab from the company for up to US$445 million.[58][59] On 6 November, it was reported that AstraZeneca had acquired ZS Pharma for US$2.7 billion.[60] In December, the company announced its intention to acquire the respiratory portfolio ofTakeda Pharmaceutical – namelyAlvesco andOmnaris – for US$575 million[61] A day later, the company announced it had taken a 55% majority stake in Acerta for US$4 billion; the transaction included commercial rights to Acerta's irreversible oralBruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor,acalabrutinib (ACP-196), which under development at that time.[62] In 2015, AstraZenica was the eighth-largest drug company in the world based on sales revenue.[63]
In July 2017, the company's CEOPascal Soriot said thatBrexit 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.[64] Two months later, the firm's chairmanLeif 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.[65] Soon after, executive vice president Pam Cheng stated that AstraZeneca had ignited startup of duplicate QA testing facility in Sweden and has initiated hiring in Sweden.[66]
In 2017, it was the eleventh largest drug company in the world based on sales and ranked seventh based on R&D investment.[67]
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.[68]
On 6 December 2018, AstraZeneca purchased nearly 8% of the American pharmaceutical business,Moderna.[69]
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 astrastuzumab deruxtecan sent shares in Japan's Daiichi soaring 16%.[70]
In September 2019, the company announced that it would cease drug production at its German headquarters inWedel, leading to the loss of 175 jobs by the end of 2021.[71][72]
In October 2019, AstraZeneca announced it would sell the global commercial rights for its drug to treat acid reflux to German pharmaceutical companyCheplapharm Arzneimittel GmbH for as much as US$276 million.[73][74]
In February 2020, AstraZeneca agreed to sublicense its global rights (except Europe, Canada and Israel) to the drugMovantik, to Redhill Biopharma.[75]
In June 2020, AstraZeneca made a preliminary approach toGilead Sciences about a potential merger, worth almost US$240 billion.[76][77] However, these plans were subsequently dropped because it would have distracted the company from its own pipeline and ongoingCOVID-19 vaccine efforts.[78]
In July 2020, the business entered into its second collaboration withDaiichi 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.[79]
In September 2020, AstraZeneca acquired the preclinical oralPCSK9 inhibitor program from Dogma Therapeutics.[80]
On 27 December 2020, AstraZeneca CEOPascal Soriot said that they have “figured out the winning formula” with their two-dose system with theOxford University’sCOVID-19 vaccine.[81] Three days later, the United Kingdom approved the emergency use of theOxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.[82][83][84]
In July 2021, AstraZeneca acquiredAlexion Pharmaceuticals.[85][86] In October 2021, the company, through Alexion, acquired Caelum Biosciences and its monoclonal treatment (CAEL-101) for light chain (AL)amyloidosis for up to $500 million.[87][88]
In July 2022, the company announced it would acquire TeneoTwo for up to $1.3 billion, increasing its blood cancer drug offering.[89] In October 2022, it was announced that it would acquire LogicBio Therapeutics, which was active in clinical-stagegenomic medicine.[90][91]
In November 2022, it was announced AstraZeneca had acquired theAmsterdam-headquartered clinical-stage biotechnology company, Neogene Therapeutics.[92]
In January, AstraZeneca announced it would acquire CinCor Pharma for $1.8 billion.[93]
In November 2023, AstraZeneca launched a new global health tech business, Evinova, that focused on provide global services toCROs and pharma companies to design, run and monitor clinical trials.[94]
In December 2023, AstraZeneca announced that it would acquire an RSV vaccine developer, Icosavax for $1.1 billion.[95] Later that month, AstraZeneca agreed to acquire clinical-stage biopharmaceutical developer of cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, Gracell Biotechnologies, in a deal valued at up to $1.2 billion.[96] Both the acquisitions were completed in February 2024.[97][98]
In March 2024, AstraZeneca announced it would acquire Amolyt Pharma in exchange for $1.05 billion.[99] That same month, the firm also announced the acquisition of Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc for $2 billion in cash.[100]
In July 2024,National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) blocked theNational Health Service (NHS) from providingEnhertu, an innovative treatment for advanced HER2-low breast cancer, due to AstraZeneca andDaiichi Sankyo not offering a low enough price. Nice's decision, the first rejection of a breast cancer treatment in six years, highlighted the financial challenges of funding complex medicines, with Enhertu costing £117,857 per treatment course. Despite approval by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, Nice's non-recommendation meant the drug could only be available privately or under separate funding in Scotland. Clinical trials showed Enhertu extended patients' lives by five months compared to chemotherapy, but Nice and the companies could not agree on a new price.[101]
In February 2024, the chief executive faced criticism from corporate governance experts and AstraZeneca investors regarding his excessive pay.[102]
In December 2024, the company announced the appointment ofRene Haas and Birgit Conix to its board as non-executive directors.[103] Both appointments will be effective from January 2025 and February 2025 respectively.[103]
In January 2025, the company announced the withdrawal of plans to expand its vaccine manufacturing site inLiverpool, England.[104] In March 2025, the company told the UKBusiness and Trade Select Committee that the government failed to make a proposed £75 million grant by August 2025, saying "When the offer emerged in October of support to the tune of £75 million, that didn’t then support the revised business case with the new timelines sufficiently.".[104]
In March 2025, AstraZeneca announced the acquisition of Belgian biotech company EsoBiotec for up to $1 billion to enhance its cancer treatment capabilities through EsoBiotec's in vivo cell therapy platform.[105]
In July 2025, AstraZeneca announced plans to invest $50 billion in the United States by 2030.[106]
The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors:[107]
AstraZeneca develops, manufactures and sells pharmaceutical and biotechnology products to treat disorders in theoncology,cardiovascular,gastrointestinal,infection,neuroscience,respiratory andinflammation areas.[111]
AstraZeneca has its corporate headquarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and its mainresearch and development (R&D) centres are inCambridge (UK),Gaithersburg (Maryland, US),Mölndal inGothenburg (Sweden), andWarsaw (Poland).[112] In 2025 the company opened a new cell therapy manufacturing facility inRockville, Maryland.[113]
AstraZeneca's global headquarters are located in theCambridge Biomedical Campus adjacent toAddenbrooke's Hospital inCambridge, England. The facility, known as the Discovery Centre, was designed by Swiss architecture firmHerzog & de Meuron[114] and officially opened byPrince Charles on the 23 November 2021.[115] The building is designed to accommodate over 2,200 scientists across 16 laboratories covering approximately 19,000 square metres (200,000 sq ft). It was built at a cost of approximately £1 billion.[116]
In September 2025, the Discovery Centre was shortlisted for theStirling Prize.[117]
In 2015, AstraZeneca arranged for the establishment of a direct air route betweenCambridge andGothenburg, which began operation on 2 March 2015.[118] The company reserved 20 of the 32 seats on each flight, with the remaining seats available to the public, which was operatedSUN-AIR forBritish Airways.[119] The service connects AstraZeneca’s global headquarters in Cambridge with its research facility in Gothenburg.[120] The service operated four days per week and was intended to support collaboration between staff in the two locations, allowing same-day travel for meetings. The route ended as a scheduled public service in 2016 due to insufficient demand,[121] but these flights continue for AstraZeneca employees as of 2024.[122]
In April 2015, AstraZeneca's drugtremelimumab was approved as anorphan drug for the treatment ofmesothelioma in the United States.[123] In February 2016, AstraZeneca announced that aclinical trial of tremelimumab as a treatment for mesothelioma failed to meet its primary endpoint.[124]
As of 2008, David Brennan was paid US$1,574,144 for his role as chief executive officer.[125]
On 26 April 2012, it was announced that Brennan was to retire in early June of that year.[126] In August 2012,Pascal Soriot was named CEO of AstraZeneca.[127]
It was also announced thatLeif Johansson would succeedLouis 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.[126]
The company's non-executive Board directors are Philip Broadley,Euan Ashley, Michel Demaré, Deborah DiSanzo, Diana Layfield,Sheri McCoy, Tony Mok, Nazneen Rahman, Andreas Rummelt, andMarcus Wallenberg.[128]
AstraZeneca is a member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a medical research advocacy group that lobbies on behalf of thepharmaceutical industry.[129]
In April 2010, AstraZeneca settled aqui tam lawsuit brought byStefan P. Kruszewski for US$520 million to settle allegations that the company defraudedMedicare,Medicaid, and other government-funded health care programs in connection with its marketing and promotional practices for the blockbuster atypical antipsychotic,Seroquel. 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.[130]
In March 2011, AstraZeneca settled alawsuit in the United States totalling US$68.5 million to be divided up to 38 states.[131]
The company's most commercially successful medication isesomeprazole (Nexium). The primary uses are treatment ofgastroesophageal reflux disease, treatment and maintenance oferosive esophagitis, treatment ofduodenal ulcers caused byHelicobacter pylori, prevention ofgastric ulcers in those on chronicNSAID therapy, and treatment of gastrointestinal ulcers associated withCrohn's disease. When it is manufactured the result is a mixture of twomirror-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.[132] In March 2001, the company began to marketNexium, as it would a brand new drug.[133]
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.[134] While omeprazole is approved only at doses of up to 20 mg for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux,[135] esomeprazole is approved for doses up to 40 mg.[136]
In 2007,Marcia Angell, formereditor-in-chief of theNew England Journal of Medicine and a lecturer insocial medicine at theHarvard Medical School, said inStern, 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 [of each drug], the company's scientists used Nexium in higher dosages. They compared 20 and 40 mg Nexium with 20 mgPrilosec. 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."[137]
On 4 February 1998, Astra USA sued Lars Bildman, its former president and chief executive officer, seeking US$15 million fordefrauding the company.[138] 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 foryachts and sex workers, destroyeddocuments andrecords, and concocted: "tales ofconspiracy involving ex-KGBagents and competitors. This was in a last-ditch effort to distract attention from the real wrongdoer, Bildman himself." Bildman had alreadypleaded guilty inUS District Court for failing to report more than US$1 million in income on histax returns.[139] In addition, several female co-workers filed personal sexual-harassment lawsuits against Bildman.[140] In April 1998, Bildman was sentenced to 21 months in prison three months after he pled guilty to filing false Federal tax returns.[141][139]
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.[142] 120 former female employees of Astra were interviewed during the inquiry, with about 80 of them being identified as able to file claims.[142] Astra U.S.A. also issued a statement of apology for the hostile work environment.[142]
InAstra USA v. Bildman, 914 N.E.2d 36 (Mass. 2009), applying New York'sfaithless servant 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".[143] 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.[143][144] The decision attracted a good deal of attention by legal commentators.[145]
In 2004,University of Minnesota research participant Dan Markingsontook his own life while enrolled in an industry-sponsored pharmaceutical trial comparing three FDA-approved atypical antipsychotics:Seroquel (quetiapine),Zyprexa (olanzapine), andRisperdal (risperidone). University of Minnesota Professor of BioethicsCarl Elliott 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.[146] A 2005 FDA investigation cleared the university. Nonetheless, controversy around the case has continued. AMother Jones article[146] 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.[147]
In February 2010, AstraZeneca agreed to pay £505 million to settle a UK tax dispute related totransfer mispricing.[148][149]
In August 2020, AstraZeneca made an advance purchase agreement with the European Commission and the EU member states for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines:
However, the UKSecretary of State for Health and Social Care,Matt Hancock, declared in March 2021 that the United Kingdom had been given "exclusivity" and that the EU's treaty was "inferior".[151][152] 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.[153]
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.[154] 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."[155] 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 ofSARS-CoV-2 in early 2021.[156]
AstraZeneca's reputation in China was tarnished when its Chinese subsidiary did not quickly donate to relief efforts after the2008 Sichuan earthquake.[157]: 121 Typically, donations for disaster relief in China are made through funds established through the ChineseMinistry of Civil Affairs and its subordinate organization, theRed Cross Society of China.[157]: 121 AstraZeneca had a corporate rule prohibiting foreign subsidiaries from making donations to local governments, and the company construed this rule as prohibiting donations for Sichuan earthquake relief efforts.[157]: 121 AstraZeneca's Chinese subsidiary suffered a major backlash for its failure to donate.[157]: 121 Corporate approval was eventually given for the Chinese subsidiary to donate, but only after a long delay.[157]: 121
During the early 2020s, AstraZeneca expanded its R&D pipeline within China, increasing its investment in the country; the firm also signed licensing agreements with nine separate biotech firms in China that have been collectively valued at $6.5 billion.[158][159]
In May 2023, AstraZeneca's China president, Leon Wang, stated that the company aims to be a "patriotic" company in China that "loves theCommunist Party."[160] On 30 October 2024, AstraZeneca revealed that Wang was under investigation by Chinese authorities and had been detained.[161] The China business is now being run by Michael Lai, the general manager.[162]
In November 2024, it was announced that Chinese officials had widened their investigation under a national anti-corruption campaign targeting healthcare. Among the allegations, former AstraZeneca employees are accused of falsifying genetic tests to secure reimbursement for the company’s lung cancer drug, Tagrisso.[163] Several current and former company executives are also being investigated for potentially breaching data privacy laws and for the suspected illegal importation of certain cancer drugs – likely including Enhertu, Imfinzi and Imjudo – from Hong Kong.[164]
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, AstraZeneca faced criticism for maintaining its operations and continuing certain clinical trials in Russia, despite promising to halt new investments in the country.[165] While several international pharmaceutical companies announced suspensions of new clinical studies in Russia after the conflict began, AstraZeneca moved forward with a study for a new COVID-19 prevention drug, essential for its registration in Russia.[166]
Media related toAstraZeneca at Wikimedia Commons
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