AstraZeneca investing $3.5bn in R & D and manufacturing in the US
The capital injection includes $2bn of new money to create more than a thousand additional high-skilled jobs – contributing to the growth of the US economy.
The company’s expanding footprint in the US is already impressive, including a state-of-the-art R & D centre in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts; a nextgen manufacturing facility for biologics in Maryland; cell therapy manufacturing capacity on the West and East Coasts plus speciality manufacturing in Texas.
CEO Pascal Soriot, said: "Our multibillion dollar investment reflects the attractiveness of the business environment together with the quality of talent and innovation capabilities in the United States. By expanding our R & D and manufacturing footprint, we aim to enhance the development of cutting-edge therapies and support the United States leadership in healthcare innovation.”
He said the US investments were the first of a series of important steps to help deliver AstraZeneca's ambition to achieve $80 billion in total revenue by 2030 as set out in May this year.
A key element of its overall strategy is accelerating the company's development in the US – AstraZeneca's largest market, generating 44 per cent of its total revenue.
The company, co-quoted on Nasdaq, already has around 17,800 employees working across 17 R & D, manufacturing and commercial sites spanning 12 States.
AstraZeneca has today upgraded forecasts after a strong performance for the nine months and third quarter 2024.
Soriot said: “Our company has continued on its strong growth trajectory in the first nine months of 2024. Total Revenue and Core EPS were up 21 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively, in the third quarter, reflecting the increasing demand for our medicines across Oncology, BioPharmaceuticals and Rare Disease and supporting an upgrade to our full year 2024 guidance.
“In the year to date we have announced the results for multiple positive high-value trials and are working to bring these new options to patients as quickly as possible.
“Additionally, the quality and impact of our scientific research was well recognised this quarter with data for AstraZeneca medicines featuring in an unprecedented five Presidential Plenary sessions at the two major oncology conferences in September.
“We are highly encouraged by the broad-based underlying momentum we are seeing across our company in 2024, and growth looks set to continue through 2025, providing a solid foundation to deliver on our 2030 ambition.
“Finally, we take the matters in China very seriously. If requested we will fully cooperate with the authorities. We remain committed to delivering innovative life-changing medicines to patients in China.”
The Guardian newspaper reports that authorities in China are believed to be investigating the importation of two cancer treatments manufactured by AZ.
AstraZeneca’s UK share price has fallen since it announced that its China president, Leon Wang, who was executive VP for international, was stepping back because he was under investigation by Chinese authorities.
The Guardian adds that alongside Wang, two former and two current executives had also been detained over allegations of illegally importing oncology medicines. The investigations concern the five individuals, and not the company itself, the newspaper adds.
