By Ed Ballard
LONDON--U.K.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN.LN) on Monday
announced a plan to invest $285 million in a new biological
medicines facility in Sodertalje, Sweden.
The company said the move is the first phase of what could be a
three-part investment program to expand its biologics manufacturing
capabilities.
The new plant in Sodertalje--already home to AstraZeneca's
biggest global tablets and capsules manufacturing plant--will begin
producing protein therapeutics for clinical trials from the end of
2018, AstraZeneca said. It will start turning out commercial
products when it becomes fully operational 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
Pascal Soriot.
"We expect to bring a significantly increased number of new
specialty care medicines to patients in the coming years, driven in
large part by biologics. This new plant will give us greater
capacity and flexibility to handle clinical trials, and will also
play an important role in our future commercial production."
AstraZeneca said it will recruit between 150 and 250 highly
skilled workers to staff the facility by 2019.
At 0821 GMT, shares traded 20 pence or 0.5% higher at 4,388
pence.
Write to Ed Ballard at ed.ballard@wsj.com
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