AstraZeneca to invest $100m in US

AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group, will on Monday announce $100m (£51m) in investment in the US for research and development on drugs to treat infectious diseases such as the MRSA hospital “superbug”.

It will add up to 100 researchers to its 400-strong staff in Waltham, Massachusetts, and build a 132,000 sq ft laboratory by 2010.

Most of the money will pay for a focus on anti-infectives, with a smaller number of new staff reinforcing the company’s existing work on cancer drugs, an area that accounts for more sales than any other for the pharmaceutical industry.

The investment follows a strategic review by AstraZeneca in recent months under David Brennan, its chief executive officer. This has led to greater emphasis on fewer promising therapy areas and growth in biological medicines alongside the company’s historical focus on “small molecule” chemical drugs.

Infectious diseases kill millions of people each year, and drug resistance to existing treatments presents a growing threat.

However, drug companies have reduced investment in anti-infective medicines in recent years, some to concentrate on viral research instead. Industry data indicate that only 10 antibacterials have been introduced since 1998.

AstraZeneca currently sells one anti-infective, but Trevor Trust, vice-president of infectious discovery in Boston said his aim was to develop two candidate drugs a year ready to move from pre-clinical research into testing on humans. The first such experimental drug should move into Phase I trials early next year.

The company already operates a research centre in Bangalore in India focused on tuberculosis, but the latest investment reflects recognition of the medical need and commercial appeal of anti-infective drugs.

The Waltham investment will increase the number of researchers working on anti-infectives from 120 to 200 over the next three years, representing what Mr Trust said marked a “major expansion”, more than doubling work in the area, which currently accounts for about 5 per cent of AstraZeneca’s 5,500 research staff.

The move marks a switch in emphasis on the group’s US drug development activities, alongside continued research and development activities in the UK and Sweden.

AstraZeneca does not report spending by therapy area, but its total investment in research and development was $3.4bn in 2005. Mr Brennan has pledged to increase the proportion of sales reinvested beyond 14 per cent.