AstraZeneca Opens New Manufacturing Facility in Russia

AstraZeneca has opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing and packaging facility in Kaluga, Russia, dedicated for the local supply of innovative medicines. The drugmaker announced plans to build this facility in 2011 and has invested $224 million into its construction.

According to AstraZeneca, commercial production will begin early next year and will focus on final-stage manufacturing, packaging, and quality control. The site is expected to become fully operational in 2017 and will produce approximately 40 million packs and 850 million tablets of some 30 innovative medicines every year. This figure represents more than 60% of AstraZeneca’s medicines marketed in Russia to treat diseases across the company’s therapy areas.

The new Russian facility adds to the expansion of AstraZeneca’s global manufacturing capabilities to support its expanding portfolio of medicines and growing demand, following on from the planned biologics manufacturing investments in Sweden, the acquisition of a new site in Boulder, Colorado, US, and the expansion in Frederick, Maryland, US.