Albireo - February 2008
AstraZeneca and Nomura Phase4 Ventures announced the signing of a deal to form Albireo, a company focused on developing new treatments for gastrointestinal (GI) disorders.

Albireo, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, has secured one clinical and a number of pre-clinical GI programmes from AstraZeneca as well as several researchers with extensive experience in AstraZeneca’s GI Research Area. The spinout is a result of AstraZeneca’s previously announced strategic decision to concentrate on Nexium® and internal GI research focussed on Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).

Albireo raised $40 million from a syndicate of growth capital firms, led by Nomura Phase4 Ventures, and joined by TVM Capital, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and TPG Growth, all specialist investors in the healthcare markets. AstraZeneca retains a significant minority equity interest as well as a seat on the Albireo board alongside representatives from TVM Capital, TPG Growth and Nomura Phase4 Ventures.

"Albireo represents an exciting opportunity for AstraZeneca to deliver value for patients and our shareholders,” said Veronique Bouchet, Head of Venture Strategy, AstraZeneca Strategic Planning and Business Development. “AstraZeneca is committed to creating innovative partnerships and deal structures that realise the full potential of our science. Nomura Phase4 Ventures and its syndicate are leading healthcare investors with proven success in growing biotechnology companies.” (www.albireopharma.com)

Cancer Research UK - May 2008
AstraZeneca entered into an innovative new arrangement with Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Technology (CRT) – the charity’s development and commercialisation arm – to progress into clinical development a potential anti-cancer compound from AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca’s AZD0424 - a tyrosine kinase inhibitor - is the first drug to enter the charity’s Clinical Development Partnerships (CDP) programme. CDP was launched in 2006 to support the continuing development of promising anti-cancer agents. It offers companies an alternative model to traditional out licensing, which enables them to retain rights to the compound throughout the development programme. The compound is expected to enter phase I trials within the next 18 months.

Under the terms of the partnership deal, Cancer Research UK’s highly experienced Drug Development Office will conduct the clinical trials at no cost to AstraZeneca. In addition, AstraZeneca retains the option to assume further development and marketing of the drug, with the charity receiving a share of any revenues. Potential downstream royalties have not been disclosed

Acquisitions
MedImmune - June 2007
AstraZeneca's acquisition of MedImmune, which, together with the Cambridge Antibody Technology team and AstraZeneca's own biologics experts, accelerates the delivery of our biologics strategy, bringing us critical new capabilities in discovery, development, regulatory, manufacturing and sales. It also brings into the AstraZeneca group a team of talented and committed people to complement our existing biologics capability.

Arrow Therapeutics - February 2007
An acquisition which strengthens AstraZeneca portfolio of promising anti-infective research with clinical and pre-clinical compounds. The anti-viral programmes developed by Arrow Therapeutics include several different approaches towards Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and the acquisition provides a widely recognised expert group and technology platform in an area of research that complements our internal capabilities in anti-bacterials. The deal also fits strategically, with infection and anti-bacterials one of our key therapy areas.

Cambridge Antibody Technology (CaT) - June 2006
AstraZeneca's acquisition of CaT. CaT is now a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca, aiming to bring improvements to seriously ill patients' lives through its global leadership position in the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies. Working in tandem with our existing small molecule organisation, it aims to provide candidate drugs to fuel a late stage development pipeline and, thereby, a strong flow of new medicines.

KuDOS Pharmaceuticals - January 2006
AstraZeneca's acquisition of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs based upon the science of DNA damage sensing, signalling and repair to address unmet medical needs in cancer treatment. KuDOS Pharmaceuticals became a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca in January 2006.

Profit share
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) - January 2007
A worldwide collaboration to develop and commercialise two investigational compounds being studied for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Both compounds were discovered by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Saxagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, and dapagliflozin (previously referred to as BMS-512148), a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor. Diabetes is a particular area of scientific interest for AstraZeneca, and Bristol-Myers Squibb's recognised contributions to diabetes research will compliment our existing strengths. The deal also represents a significant step in delivering our externalisation strategy, providing access to two strategically important late stage compounds in an area of high unmet clinical need.

Abraxis Bioscience Inc. - April 2006
An agreement with Abraxis BioScience Inc. to co-promote ABRAXANE® for Injectable Suspension in the US. , and the divestment of AstraZeneca's US anaesthetics and analgesic products to Abraxis BioScience. ABRAXANE® is a novel, albumin-bound formulation of paclitaxel, and Abraxis BioScience’s clinical development programme for ABRAXANE® spans a variety of tumour types including Non Small Cell Lung, Ovarian, Prostate, Adjuvant Breast, Melanoma, Head and Neck and Upper GI Cancers. The deal gives AstraZeneca access to the US chemotherapy market, and complements and extends our U.S. oncology product portfolio.

Abbott Laboratories - July 2006
A collaboration to co-develop and market a combination treatment that will target three important blood lipids - LDL ("bad" cholesterol), HDL ("good" cholesterol), and triglycerides – in one single pill as part of a comprehensive treatment regimen for mixed lipid disorders. The fixed-dose combination therapy will be co-developed for the U.S. market based on Abbott’s proprietary, next-generation fenofibrate (ABT-335) and AstraZeneca’s marketed statin, CRESTOR® (rosuvastatin calcium). In parallel, a combination product based on Abbott’s currently marketed fibrate TriCor® and AstraZeneca’s CRESTOR® will also be evaluated. Final selection between the two programmes will be made based upon data generated from the initial studies.