AstraZeneca in Gothenburg
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Our people support the entire life cycle of medicines. That’s everything from idea generation through discovery research, via early and late-stage clinical development, to pilot scale manufacturing, distribution, global commercialisation, and product maintenance.
Gothenburg key facts
3,000
>1/3
54.6%
Designing the future of R&D
Our team of world-renowned scientists work in all our research therapy areas, including cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, metabolic diseases, respiratory diseases, immunity diseases, cancer, and rare diseases. One of the Gothenburg site’s unique features is that we have most of the resources and expertise needed to support the entire lifecycle of a medicine. That’s everything from idea generation to global commercialisation and product maintenance.
Here, as in all our research efforts worldwide, we strive to enhance our understanding of disease biology, discover new ways to target drivers of disease, better predict clinical success, and pioneer new approaches to engagement in the clinic.
Our largest unit for the manufacture of clinical supplies
In Gothenburg, we house our largest and most diverse set-up for the manufacture of clinical supplies. We have highly modern facilities for producing oral, parenteral, and inhaled products across research therapy areas, including capabilities for packaging, labelling and worldwide distribution. We continue to invest in the most modern processes and technologies, a recent example is a state-of-the-art continuous manufacturing line.
Pioneering activity-based labs
A driving force behind the Gothenburg site’s scientific leadership is our fully flexible, activity-based labs that have inspired other businesses to follow suit. They enable meetings between scientists from different therapy areas and disciplines, which has proved to increase the number of experiments and hence opportunities for scientific breakthroughs of benefit for patients. Our activity-based labs help us to be more environmentally sustainable by reducing the need of space and increase the use of laboratory equipment. This makes it possible for us to invest in more advanced equipment.
Watch the video to follow one of our scientists, Anita, as she spends a day in the lab. You can also take a virtual tour of some of our labs here.
Unique culture of collaboration and open innovation
Our site is an incredibly vibrant and diverse place, with about 3,000 employees and a high proportion of international talent. More than a third of our employees are born in another country. A wide range of different professional groups work here: chemists, doctors, economists, lawyers, communicators, project managers, laboratory assistants, IT specialists and many others. Inclusion and diversity are embedded into everything we do, driving creativity and people empowered to innovate for patients by challenging conventional thinking.
New collaboration models to create the future of healthcare
Tomorrow’s healthcare with a focus on prediction, prevention and personalisation requires a new level of interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration. In Gothenburg we partner with industry, academia, and the public sector across the globe. We are the initiators behind several innovation hubs as well as a life science cluster to develop health solutions that include medicines, but also go beyond them. Read more about some of our initiatives below. Interested in partnering with us? Visit our partnering page!
GoCo Health Innovation City
GoCo is a growing life science district encompassing our Gothenburg site and adjacent buildings and land. It was initiated late 2017 when we signed a ground-breaking land deal with the real estate companies Vectura and Next Step. The common aim was to develop the land surrounding our Gothenburg site into a new district for innovative actors within health and life science. The first new tenant, the Japanese biotechnology company Fujirebio, moved in 2020, and the district now contains a large array of health and life science actors.
BioVentureHub
Our BioVentureHub is a non-profit, innovation hub. It provides an inside track to our scientific expertise and facilities for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and academic organisations. The BioVentureHub actors focus on New Modalities, Drug Delivery Technologies, Data & AI, and Digital Healthcare Solutions.
BioVentureHub increases the speed of growth for its companies by enabling and nurturing a unique, knowledge based, “dare to share” culture. Thereby creating and capturing proven value for the companies, AstraZeneca, and the life science sector regionally, nationally, and globally, to ultimately benefit patients.
Health Works
Health Works is our people-centred innovation hub, aimed at transforming healthcare systems by driving impactful solutions to healthcare challenges. Founded in design-thinking methodology, Health Works brings together patients, healthcare professionals, and industry experts, in areas where we can provide deep knowledge and expertise. The outcome might be new digital health services or smart devices, improved healthcare interactions, or new policies. Everything done is based on three cornerstones: people-centricity, co-creation and designing for impact.
OligoNova
OligoNova is a national platform for research and development of therapeutic oligonucleotides. It was initiated by us and the University of Gothenburg in 2020 and gathers national experts within the area of therapeutic oligonucleotides representing academia, regions, institutes, industry, and small and medium enterprises. A central part is the OligoNova Hub, which is part of the SciLifeLab Drug Discovery and Development platform. The OligoNova Hub sits in our BioVentureHub and delivers resources and support to progress academic projects towards preclinical proof-of-concept.
Photo: Johan Wingborg, Gothenburg University
100%
1,4 billion SEK
99%
Committed to young people
We work actively to spark young people's interest in science and technology in Sweden. We also work with Swedish non-profit organisations to improve young people’s mental and physical health.
Universeum
We have been a main sponsor of Scandinavia’s largest science centre for over ten years. During this time, we have had several joint projects, for instance Älska Kemi and Medicinjakten.
The International Science Festival
We collaborate with 'Vetenskapsfestivalen', one of Europe's leading popular science events for school children.
Mentorship and volunteering
All our employees are given eight hours each year to spend on volunteer work in the community. Together with Mentor Sweden, some of us act as mentors to students. Others engage in projects that directly or indirectly contribute to the wellbeing and health of young people through an extensive collaboration with the organisation Volontärbyrån.
Veeva ID: Z4-54498
Date of preparation: April 2023