18th May 2015 08:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC said Monday it plans to invest around USD285 million in a new manufacturing facility in Södertälje, Sweden, which will focus on filing and packaging protein therapeutics.
The new facility will supply medicines for clinical trial programmes for both AstraZeneca and its biologics research and development arm MedImmune from the end of 2018, and will deliver finished products for commercial use when it is fully operation by 2019.
The investment is subject to approval from local authorities. It marks the first phase of a potential three-part programme to expand its biologics manufacturing capabilities, with further investment decisions to be made in "the coming years".
AstraZeneca believes it will create between 150 and 250 new roles in the company by 2019.
"This is a strategically important investment for AstraZeneca to support the accelerating development of biotech medicines, which now make up around half of our pipeline," said Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot in a statement.
Shares in AstraZeneca are trading up 0.7% at 4,395.00 pence Monday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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