AstraZeneca presents MedImmune at research and development day

AstraZeneca has presented its recently acquired global biologics division MedImmune at its 2007 Analyst and Investor Research & Development day.

The company held the meeting last week at the headquarters of MedImmune in Gaithersburg, Maryland in the US, with the company outlining its strategy and goals in biologics and explaining the independent operation of the MedImmune unit.

A number of important therapeutic areas were covered at the meeting, including infectious diseases, respiratory and inflammatory conditions, oncology and commercialisation, with updates given on the product portfolios in each field.

David Mott, president and chief executive officer of MedImmune, said: “In MedImmune, AstraZeneca has a world-class biologics organisation with end-to-end capabilities from discovery through commercialisation.”

“Since coming into AstraZeneca, we have strategically and operationally integrated the former Cambridge Antibody Technology group and other biologics activity within AstraZeneca.”

He added that the organisation has incorporated the two existing biologics sites from AstraZeneca together with around 300 members of staff to address their previous treatment areas together with central nervous, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems.

AstraZeneca completed the purchase of MedImmune for $15.6 billion (7.8 billion pounds) in June 2007, with the company becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the firm.