AstraZeneca Makes Additional $135 Million Investment in Swedish Biologics Facility

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AstraZeneca is making an investment of approximately US $135 million, or the equivalent of 1.375 billion Swedish krona, in its Sweden Biomanufacturing Center in Södertälje, as announced in a press release* on Aug. 26, 2024 (1).

The money will help expand the functional area of the Södertälje campus by 50%, adding 2700 square meters to an existing building. Once the completion of the expanded facility is finalized, AstraZeneca said, manufacturing of products for patients will begin in the new section, which could be as early as the fourth quarter of 2027 (1).

This additional investment is the largest singular tranche of funding for the facility since it opened in 2021, according to AstraZeneca.

With biological drugs accounting for more than 50% of the projects in AstraZeneca’s current research portfolio, the Sweden Biomanufacturing Center was designed with an eye toward matching the rapidly growing share of biological medicines on the market, the press release said, as well as meeting increased internal production capacity needs (1). One of the areas the money from this investment will address is installing new equipment for filling drugs into prefilled syringes.

Per Alfredsson, CEO of AstraZeneca AB and senior vice president for global biologics operations, said in the press release that the company was happy about its investment in Södertälje, which he said demonstrated AstraZeneca's commitment to innovation and manufacturing of biological medicines in Sweden, adding that the planned expansion would strengthen the company’s ability to deliver high-quality, life-changing medicines to patients worldwide (1).

The announcement comes amid a busy few months for the Cambridge, UK-based company on the international stage. In May 2024, AstraZeneca said it was planning a new, $1.5 billion USD antibody drug conjugate facility in Singapore, for which construction would begin by the end of 2024 with the goal of full operation sometime in 2029 (2). And in July 2024, the company completed its $1.05 billion USD purchase originally announced in March 2024 of Amolyt Pharma, a clinical-stage biotechnology company which had developed treatments for rare endocrine diseases, strengthening a rare disease late-stage pipeline in tandem with its 2021 acquisition of Alexion (3).

AstraZeneca said the new investment in the Sweden Biomanufacturing Center not only stands to eventually benefit millions of patients worldwide, but also aligns with the company’s commitment to job creation and economic growth in the Södertälje region—yet while the press release said new jobs would be created as a result of the expansion made possible by this round of funding, no estimate was given as to when or how many job opportunities would be made available.

*Ed. note: The Aug. 26 AstraZeneca press release was originally written in Swedish, and was translated to English for purposes of this report.

References

1. AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is Investing in the Expansion of the Sweden Biomanufacturing Center in Södertälje. Press Release. Aug. 26, 2024.
2. AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca Plans $1.5 Billion Manufacturing Facility for Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) in Singapore. Press Release. May 20, 2024.
3. AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca to Acquire Amolyt Pharma, Expanding Late-Stage Rare Disease Pipeline. Press Release, March 14, 2024.