AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca's chief executive David Brennan

Created in 1999 from the merger of British Zeneca and Swedish Astra, the company's biggest successes since then have been ulcer drug Nexium, cholesterol treatment Crestor and antipsychotic Seroquel.

However, the last few years has seen the company bedevilled by a string of drugs which have failed in the late stages of development, or have suffered fatal setbacks once on the market.

Among these are blood clotting drug Exanta and stroke drug Renovis.

In November 2009, the latest disappointment came in the shape of Zactima's failure in lung cancer, after an evaluation of updated results from clinical trials of the drug.

Zactima (vandetanib) was filed for approval in June 2009 for use as a second-line therapy, in combination with chemotherapy, in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The drug is still in trials for other cancer indications, those these are likely to be less lucrative than NSCLC.

The compound had been pitched as an important new drug candidate for AstraZeneca, which needs a new generation of products to overcome upcoming patent expiries in its portfolio on drug such as gastrointestinal Nexium (esomeprazole), Seroquel (quetiapine) for schizophrenia and cholesterol-lowerer Crestor (rosuvastatin).

But there is good news on the horizon. AstraZeneca's new anti-clotting treatment Brillinta has been shown to outperfom market leader Plavix while Ongylza, a new diabetes treatment co-marketed with BMS was launched in October 2009.

R&D Cuts

In early 2010, the company announced major job losses and restructuring in its R&D operations. Nearly 3,500 R&D jobs will be affected at AstraZeneca at it exits discovery research in 10 therapeutic categories and closes down sites in the UK, Sweden and the US.

AstraZeneca says it will continue to carry out development work in all its current therapeutic categories, but will no longer conduct early-stage research in schizophrenia, anxiety and depression, thrombosis, acid reflux, ovarian and bladder cancers, systemic scleroderma and hepatitis C.

It will also cut back all vaccine research with the exception of programmes in flu and respiratory syncytial virus.

The company had already announced its intention to make staff cuts in January 2010, saying that around 8,000 would be shed across the group including 1,800 in R&D. 

Top of the list of sites affected by the decision is the Charnwood R&D facility in Loughborough, UK, which will be closed with the loss of 1,200 jobs by the end of 2011.

The Charnwood unit focuses on respiratory and inflammatory disease research and is the main development centre for AstraZeneca's pressurised metered dose inhaler (pMDI) activities.  These activities will transfer to Moelndal in Sweden.

The UK will also see a site in Cambridge acquired as part of its purchase of KuDOS in 2005 close down with the loss of around 50 jobs, while AstraZeneca will also cease product development work at its Avlon facility near Bristol, which focuses mainly on manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

The company's R&D site at Alderley Park in Macclesfield will be net beneficiary of the revamp, inheriting some of this work and seeing its workforces expanded.

AstraZeneca is also planning to sell Arrow Therapeutics, a UK-based antiviral specialist that it acquired for $150 million in 2007.

In the US, early-stage research will cease at its facility in Wilmington, Delaware, with the loss of around 550 jobs. Some of the employees from the unit, which specialises in psychiatric research, will transfer to AstraZeneca's Boston-based R&D operation.

In Sweden, AstraZeneca will close its R&D unit in Lund by the end of 2011. The site currently employs around 900 staff. Respiratory and inflammatory research will transfer to AstraZeneca's Moelndal site, which also focuses on gastrointestinal and cardiovascular R&D.

Anders Ekblom, executive vice president of development at AstraZeneca, said: "We have made real strides in improving our efficiency in recent years, but there is a continuing need to adapt our organisation in anticipation of future challenges.

"I am acutely aware that these proposed changes will have a significant impact on our people, and we are committed to providing support to them," he added.

AstraZeneca stats

The company focuses on six therapy areas: cancer, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience and respiratory & inflammation.

It employs over 65,000 people - 51% in Europe, 32% in the Americas and 17% in Asia, Africa and Australasia.

2008 sales:  $31.6 billion.

R&D investment 2008: over $5 billion.

Approx 12,000 people in R&D, and 17 principal R&D centres in eight countries.

26 manufacturing sites in 18 countries.