In 2007, Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca spent $5 billion globally in research and development alone, with its Swedish affiliate responsible for around 40 percent of R&D activities.

The significant investment and extensive research has resulted in leading products concentrated on five major areas - cardiovascular, oncology, respiratory, neuroscience and gastrointestinal.

"AstraZeneca is a research-driven company and our products are what set us apart," said Executive Vice President Jan Lundberg, head of the global discovery research division and a previous professor at the Karolinska Institute, one of Europe's largest medical universities and Sweden's largest center for medical training and research.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has stepped up R&D, as well as production and sales efforts to expand its activities in China in line with objectives to strengthen its global business.

Aside from a partnership formed in 2001 with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the field of neuro-psychiatric genetic research, AstraZeneca recently established an innovation center in Shanghai for transnational science in oncology, focusing on research on tumors that are more common in the Chinese mainland.

In recent years, Sweden and China have seen their relations evolve and witnessed further development in what Lundberg dubs a "science revolution," and AstraZeneca is strengthening its presence in the field.

"We are very committed to deliver new innovative medicines to promote health care in China. We want to strengthen cooperation with local universities and medical institutions, as the company stakes much growth on a strategy to be 'in China, for China'," he said.

Despite the global economic problems, Lundberg believes that the pharmaceutical industry will remain strong as long as companies develop enough new differentiated, efficacious and safe medicines that fulfill unmet medical needs.

www.astrazeneca.com

(China Daily 03/02/2009 page7)