- published: 15 Sep 2011
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AstraZeneca plc (LSE: AZN, OMX: AZN) is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's fifth-largest pharmaceutical company measured by 2009 prescription drug sales (after Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline) and has operations in over 100 countries. It has a portfolio of products for major disease areas including cancer, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation. The company was founded in 1999 through the merger of the Sweden-based Astra AB and UK-based Zeneca Group.
AstraZeneca has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £39.5 billion as of 23 December 2011, the 10th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. It has secondary listings on the New York Stock Exchange and the OMX exchange.
Astra AB was founded in 1913 by 400 doctors and apothecaries in Södertälje, Sweden. In 1993 British ICI demerged its pharmaceuticals businesses and its agrochemicals and specialties businesses, to form Zeneca Group plc, and in 1999 Astra and Zeneca Group merged to form AstraZeneca plc.