Our strategic R&D centres

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Our R&D centres

We are committed to our purpose of pushing the boundaries of science to deliver life changing medicines and we have built our business around it. We have an active R&D presence in more than 60 countries across the globe with strategic R&D centres including The Discovery Centre (DISC) in Cambridge, UK, with other centres in Gaithersburg, Maryland in the greater Washington, D.C. region in the US, and Gothenburg in Sweden, together with the recently announced centre to be located in Kendall Square in Boston, MA, and the acquisition of Alexion added a Rare Disease R&D Centre of Excellence in New Haven, Connecticut, US.


4

strategic R&D centres in the UK, US and Sweden

60

active R&D presence in other countries spanning the globe

13,000

employees work exclusively in R&D




Cambridge

Our new Discovery Centre, also known as The DISC at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) is AstraZeneca’s largest research and development centre in the UK, with more than 2,000 people working across all our therapy areas, drug discovery platforms, development and commercialisation. 

The power of our physical proximity to our neighbours in academia, healthcare and industry creates a porous environment where ideas and talent can be shared to drive innovation. Already the scale of our collaboration with others in the city is considerable. We have well over 200 partnerships as part of the Cambridge ecosystem, and hundreds more in the wider UK life sciences cluster.





Gaithersburg

A unique, innovative and inclusive modern campus, just a short drive away from Washington, DC, our Gaithersburg facility is home to a diverse community of more than 4,000 people, with the capacity to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialise life changing medicines – all on one site.

With a team of world-renowned scientists, cutting-edge technology, and a collaborative, interactive and cross-functional scientific culture, it’s a great place to work and an exciting place to be. Our outstanding facilities and amenities promote wellness and a positive work-life balance, helping us attract and retain the best talent, while contributing to our business’s values-led and sustainable approach to R&D.





Gothenburg

With more than 2,600 employees from 70 countries, our vibrant Gothenburg site helps support the entire life-cycle of AstraZeneca medicines, from drug discovery and clinical trials, through to global commercialisation and product maintenance. In 2017, we launched Lab4Life, creating an open and truly shared research environment that goes beyond the usual laboratory model. By breaking down traditional lab walls, automating processes and driving state of-the-art IT, we are creating novel ways of working to speed up delivery of new medicines.

Looking to the future, Gothenburg has initiated the creation of a new, global cluster for health and life sciences, as part of the GoCo Health Innovation City project, which includes the Gothenburg BioVentureHub. There are currently more than 30 external companies and one academic group co-locating with AstraZeneca at the heart of the Gothenburg site. By facilitating interactions between drug, device, diagnostics and digital health companies, we are creating a dynamic, creative and fertile environment for helping unlock the power of what science can do.




Boston

Located in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the heart of the greater Boston life science ecosystem, our new R&D centre will support approximately 1,500 R&D, commercial and corporate colleagues in a vibrant new space, designed to encourage collaboration and innovation.

The site, scheduled for completion in 2026, will bring together our Boston area AstraZeneca and Alexion teams and contribute to our aim of building bridges across our networks. Optimised for both internal and external collaborations, our Boston centre will play a large part in our next chapter of success to show the powerful results of what science can do when we come together to collaborate and learn from each other.



Veeva ID: Z4-48561
Date of preparation: September 2022


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