Monday, January 22, 2007

AstraZeneca puts $100M in Waltham expansion

London pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca Plc reports it has committed a $100 million research investment at its R&D center in Waltham.

AstraZeneca's expanded research facility will house up to 100 additional researchers, officials say, adding to the more than 400 existing employees who are focused on discovering treatments for infectious diseases and cancer.

Officials say the new investment is intended to boost work in the infectious disease area and continue its growth in cancer research

Construction of the 132,000-square-foot facility will begin during the first quarter of 2007 and is scheduled to be finished by mid-2009. Once done, the total size of the AstraZeneca research facility will be 382,000 square feet.

AstraZeneca reported $3.8 billion in net income on $23.9 billion in revenue for 2005. Worldwide, the company employs 65,300 people.