Senior Management[link]

The senior executive team is composed of David Brennan, Simon Lowth, John Patterson, Tony Zook, David Mott, Bruno Angelici, Lynn Tetrault and David Smith. As of 2008, Brennan is paid $1,574,144 for his role as chief executive officer.^[24]

On 26 April 2012, it was announced that David Brennan was to retire early in the June of that year^[25]

It was also announced that Leif Johansson will succeed Louis Schweitzer as Non-Executive Chairman on 1 June 2012 – three months earlier than previously announced – and will become Chairman of the Nomination and Governance Committee after (the 2012) Annual General Meeting."^[25]

Controversies[link]

Seroquel: adverse effects and trial procedures[link]

AstraZeneca has stated that the atypical-antipsychotic drug, Seroquel, is the subject of four class-action lawsuits in Canada. Also, in the U.S., there were multiple product-liability cases alleging personal injury, namely, that Seroquel caused people to develop diabetes.

The company has indicated its intention to seek approval for Seroquel to treat psychiatric conditions such as depression and general anxiety disorder.^[26]

Note as well that scientific findings regarding a new sustained-release form of the drug were announced at a conference in Madrid, Spain, in March 2007. At the time the data regarding the new drug were discussed, the drug had not been approved for sale by any health regulatory body in any country.^[27]

During 2005 and 2006 clinical trials were carried out to examine the possibilities of further development of Seroquel. Test persons were recruited from research centres in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria and India. As part of the trials half of the test persons were given a placebo and stopped their medication. As a result thirty-six test persons relapsed into illness. One test person committed suicide, possibly as a result of quitting his medication. AstraZeneca denied that the suicide was related to the testing procedures. Ethical concerns were raised over the issue of carrying out trials in less-developed countries because of lower requirements for getting trials approved and overall lower trial costs.

In 2008, 45% of the test persons in AstraZeneca medical trials came from Asia; Eastern- and Central Europe; and South America. The same year 13.5% of the total sales were made in these regions. In contrast 86% of total sales were made in Japan, North America and Western Europe.^[28]

In April 2010 AstraZeneca settled a Qui Tam lawsuit brought by Stefan P. Kruszewski for $520 million to settle allegations that the company defrauded Medicare, Medcaid and other government-funded health care programs in connection with its marketing and promotional practices for the blockbuster atypical antipsycotic Seroquel.^[29]

In March 2011, AstraZeneca settled a lawsuit in the United States totaling $68.5 million dollars to be divided up to 38 states.^[30] Claims were made against AstraZeneca that it promoted Seroquel's use in children and adolescents long before establishing that it was safe or effective for any use in this population. Furthermore, it was found that patients experienced very serious side effects, including weight gain, diabetes and heart problems. AstraZeneca has been caught in a number of lawsuits stemming from deceptive and unfair promotion of Seroquel, and this is not the first series of settlements.^[31]

Late-stage trial failures[link]

Recently, AstraZeneca has experienced a run of failures of drugs in late-stage clinical trials.^[32] These include Galida for diabetes, and Exanta to prevent thrombosis. Other drugs with late-failing trials include NXY-059^[33] for acute ischemic stroke, Iressa for lung cancer, and AGI-1067 for prevention of atherosclerosis. With patents expiring on older drugs, this threatens future revenue growth.

MedImmune takeover[link]

After this long run of failed late-stage clinical trials, on 19 June 2007 AstraZeneca completed the acquisition of vaccine maker MedImmune, paying $15.2 billion primarily for its drug-development pipeline. Analysts have criticised this take-over, claiming that AstraZeneca paid too much.^[34] AstraZeneca consolidated its biologics portfolio in MedImmune and Cambridge Antibody Technology (acquired in 2007).^[35] This biologics portfolio was then rebranded to create a dedicated, global biologics organisation known as 'MedImmune'. Amid allegations of broken promises over this consolidation,^[35] AstraZeneca presented the new MedImmune to investors on 7 December 2007.^[16]

Nexium[link]

The company's most successful medication is esomeprazole. When it is manufactured the result is a mixture of two mirror-imaged molecules, R and S. Both are converted to the same active molecule in the body. Two years before the omeprazole patent expired AstraZeneca patented S-omeprazole in pure form, pointing that since some people metabolise R-omeprazole slowly, pure S-omeprazole treatment would give higher dose efficiency and less interindividual variation.^[36] The company marketed Nexium, as it would a brand new drug. This practice is criticised because it maintains the profits of drug companies at the expense of patients and public healthcare systems.^[37]

Instead of using presumably comparable doses [of each drug], the company's scientists used Nexium in higher dosages. They compared 20 and 40mg Nexium with 20mg Prilosec. With the cards having been marked in that way, Nexium looked like an improvement- which however was only small and shown in only two of the three studies.

Nexium is also alleged by the authors to be "the top of the list" of medications which are marketed by pharmaceutical companies directly to doctors, who receive gifts of money and/or goods when they prescribe the medication in question. As a reason for the company's behaviour, it is alleged that the German public healthcare system spends an additional $139.50 million at time of reporting--> per annum on Nexium as compared to using omeprazole, which however would be less profitable for the company as its patent protection has expired.^[38]

Corporate sexual harassment[link]

Confronted by allegations in a 13 May 1996, Business Week cover story, of widespread sexual harassment and other abuses, Astra USA Inc. suspended three top executives and launched an internal probe.^[39]

Astra USA agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by at least seventy-nine women and one man against the company. The suit accused Astra's former president and other executives of pressuring female employees for sex and replacing older workers with younger, more attractive women.^[40]

Bildman fraud[link]

On 4 February 1998, Astra USA sued Lars Bildman, its former president and chief executive officer, seeking $15 million for defrauding the company.^[41] The sum included $2.3 million in company funds he allegedly used to fix up three of his homes, plus money the company paid as the result of the EEOC investigation. Astra's lawsuit alleged Bildman sexually harassed and intimidated employees, used company funds for yachts and prostitutes, destroyed documents and records, and concocted "tales of conspiracy involving ex-KGB agents and competitors … in a last-ditch effort to distract attention from the real wrongdoer, Bildman himself." Bildman had already plead guilty in U.S. District Court for failing to report more than $1 million in income on his tax returns; in addition, several female co-workers filed personal sexual-harassment lawsuits.

Nobel Prize investigation 2008[link]

In 2008, the award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for cancer-related research on Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) by Harald zur Hausen was being looked into by the Swedish police anticorruption unit. The reason was that AstraZeneca, which has a stake in two lucrative HPV vaccines and thus stands to gain financially from the prize, had agreed to sponsor Nobel Media and Nobel Web. Investigations were focused on whether AstraZeneca could have exerted undue influence on the award. According to Times Online, two senior figures in the process that chose zur Hausen also had strong links with AstraZeneca.^[42]

Transfer mispricing[link]

In 2010, AstraZeneca agreed to pay £505m to settle UK tax dispute, relating to transfer mispricing.^[43]

See also[link]

• Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom
• List of pharmaceutical companies

References[link]

External links[link]

	London portal
	Companies portal

• Official website
• AstraZeneca companies grouped at OpenCorporates
• AstraZeneca PLC Company Profile on Yahoo!

v t e AstraZeneca Products Anastrozole Atenolol Brompheniramine Budesonide Disufenton sodium Esomeprazole FluMist Gefitinib Goserelin Isosorbide mononitrate Motavizumab Omeprazole Palivizumab Propofol Rosuvastatin Tamoxifen Ticagrelor Vandetanib Ximelagatran Zolmitriptan Predecessors and acquired companies Astra AB Cambridge Antibody Technology MedImmune Zeneca People Tom McKillop Louis Schweitzer Category

Links to related articles v t e Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in the United Kingdom Manufacturing in the United Kingdom · Economy of the United Kingdom Companies Alliance Boots · Astex · AstraZeneca (MedImmune) · BTG · Cyclacel · Dechra Pharmaceuticals · GE Healthcare · Genus · GlaxoSmithKline · Hikma Pharmaceuticals · Intercytex · Oxford BioMedica · Pfizer UK · Phytopharm · Renovo · Shire · TBS GB · Unipath · Vectura Group · Vernalis · ViiV Healthcare Government and regulatory bodies Commission on Human Medicines · Department of Health · European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines · European Medicines Agency · Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency · National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health · National Patient Safety Agency · Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland · General Pharmaceutical Council · Scottish Medicines Consortium · Veterinary Medicines Directorate Industry and professional bodies Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry · European Federation of Biotechnology · European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations · Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine · Pharmacists' Defence Association · Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain · Worshipful Society of Apothecaries Other Bandolier · British Approved Name · British National Formulary · British National Formulary for Children · British Pharmacopoeia · DrugScope · European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership · European Pharmacopoeia · List of world's largest pharmaceutical companies · Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee Category v t e FTSE 100 companies of the United Kingdom   → FTSE 250 As of 19 March 2012: Aberdeen Asset Management Admiral Group Aggreko AMEC Anglo American Antofagasta ARM Holdings Ashmore Group Associated British Foods AstraZeneca Aviva BAE Systems Barclays BG Group BHP Billiton BP British American Tobacco British Land Company British Sky Broadcasting BT Group Bunzl Burberry Group CRH Capita Group Capital Shopping Centres Group Carnival Centrica Compass Group Croda International Diageo Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Experian Evraz Fresnillo G4S GKN GlaxoSmithKline Glencore International Hammerson Hargreaves Lansdown HSBC ICAP IMI Imperial Tobacco InterContinental Hotels Group International Airlines Group International Power Intertek Group ITV Johnson Matthey Kazakhmys Kingfisher Land Securities Group Legal & General Lloyds Banking Group Man Group Marks & Spencer Meggitt Wm Morrison Supermarkets National Grid Next Old Mutual Pearson Petrofac Polymetal International Prudential Randgold Resources Reckitt Benckiser Reed Elsevier Resolution Rexam Rio Tinto Group Rolls-Royce Group The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Royal Dutch Shell RSA Insurance Group SABMiller Sage Group J Sainsbury Schroders Serco Group Severn Trent Shire Smith & Nephew Smiths Group SSE Standard Chartered Standard Life Tate & Lyle Tesco Tullow Oil Unilever United Utilities Vedanta Resources Vodafone Weir Group Whitbread Wolseley WPP Xstrata v t e OMX Stockholm 30 companies of Sweden ABB Alfa Laval Assa Abloy AstraZeneca Atlas Copco Boliden Electrolux Ericsson Getinge Hennes & Mauritz Investor AB Lundin Petroleum Modern Times Group Nokia Nordea Sandvik SCA Scania SEB Securitas Skanska SKF SSAB Svenska Handelsbanken Swedbank Swedish Match Tele2 TeliaSonera Volvo v t e Philadelphia-area corporations (including the Delaware Valley) List of companies based in the Philadelphia area Philadelphia-based Fortune 500 corporations (by 2009 rank) Comcast (59) Sunoco (78) Cigna (129) Aramark (189) Crown Holdings (289) Delaware Valley-based Fortune 500 corporations (by 2009 rank) Companies listed above, plus: AmerisourceBergen (24) DuPont (86) Lincoln National Corporation (256) Campbell Soup (299) UGI Corp. (369) SunGard (380) Unisys (452) Airgas (474) Other notable Philadelphia-based businesses Amoroso's Beneficial Bank Crozer Keystone Health System Pep Boys Philadelphia Media Network Radian Group Tasty Baking Urban Outfitters Notable Philadelphia-based professional partnerships Ballard Spahr Blank Rome Cozen O'Connor Dechert Drinker Biddle & Reath Duane Morris Morgan, Lewis & Bockius Pepper Hamilton Saul Ewing Other notable Delaware Valley-based businesses Aqua America Bentley Systems Brandywine Realty Trust Boscov's Carpenter Technology Corporation Cephalon Forman Mills Liberty Property Trust Polish Water Ice Rita's Italian Ice Vanguard ViroPharma Wawa Wilmington Trust WSFS Bank Notable Delaware Valley-based US headquarters of foreign businesses ACE AgustaWestland AstraZeneca HSBC Bank USA ING Group SAP America Siemens Medical Shire Pharmaceuticals Sovereign Bancorp Subaru Teva Pharmacueticals TD Bank Notable Delaware Valley-based division headquarters of US corporations Acme (SuperValu) AlliedBarton and Pinnacle Foods (Blackstone) Keystone Helicopter (United Tech.) Centocor (J&J) Colonial Penn (Conseco) Delmarva Power (Pepco Holdings) GSI Commerce (eBay) Hercules (Ashland) MAB Paints (Sherwin-Williams) McNeil Laboratories (J&J) Neoware (Hewlett-Packard) PECO (Exelon) QVC (Liberty Media) Rohm and Haas (Dow Chemical)