New $3.5b AstraZeneca investment to accelerate US R&D and manufacturing

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To boost AstraZeneca’s research and manufacturing footprint by the end of 2026, it is dedicating $3.5 billion of capital investment in the US.

Of this amount, $2 billion will generate over 1,000 new jobs, the company added.

AstraZeneca highlighted its US footprint is expanding in multiple areas such as:
• a state-of-the-art R&D centre in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• next generation biologics manufacturing facility based in Maryland
• cell therapy manufacturing capacity on the West and East Coasts
• specialty manufacturing in Texas.

“By expanding our R&D and manufacturing footprint [with this multibillion-dollar investment], we aim to enhance the development of cutting-edge therapies and support the US leadership in healthcare innovation,” stated Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZeneca.

Overall, the biopharma firm explained that these initial US investments are part of AstraZeneca’s plan to attain $80 billion in Total Revenue by the end of the decade.

AstraZeneca’s investment in manufacturing

In August, AstraZeneca announced its single biggest investment in its Sweden Biomanufacturing Center in Södertälje, since the facility opened in 2021.

Financed with an extra $135 million, this will increase the biopharmaceutical facility area of AstraZeneca’s Sweden Biomanufacturing Center by 50 percent. The expansion is set to strengthen AstraZeneca’s capability to manufacture biologic medicines for patients worldwide.

Aligning with its commitment to investing in its future, at the time AstraZeneca shared this news, the company noted that more than fifty percent of its research projects were centred around biological drugs.

In February, the company shared that it planned to invest $300 million in a US-based manufacturing facility to “make next-generation cell therapy a reality”, according to Pam Cheng, Executive Vice President of Global Operations & IT and Chief Sustainability Officer, AstraZeneca.