ASTRAZENECA PLC (AZN)

AstraZeneca PLC is a public limited company incorporated in England and Wales in 1992 and headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is a research-based biopharmaceutical group that discovers, develops and markets medicines. It was formed in 1993 through the demerger of the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and specialty chemical businesses of Imperial Chemical Industries, and was named Zeneca Group PLC until 1999, when it merged with Astra of Sweden. It sold the specialty chemical business in 1999 and demerged its agrochemical business in 2000 into Syngenta. It acquired the biologics and vaccines business MedImmune in 2007 and the rare disease business Alexion in 2021. In February 2026 it terminated its ADR programme and listed its Ordinary Shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange.

The business is organised around therapy areas: Oncology, CVRM (cardiovascular, renal and metabolism), Respiratory & Immunology, Vaccines & Immune Therapies, and Rare Disease. The development pipeline spans Phase I through registration and covers small molecules, monoclonal and bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, T-cell engagers, CAR-T and TCR-T cell therapies, radioconjugates, siRNA, antisense and gene therapies. Marketed products named in the text include Imfinzi, Imjudo, Calquence, Tagrisso, Lynparza, Truqap, Datroway, Enhertu, Orpathys, Koselugo, Ultomiris, Fasenra, Tezspire, Saphnelo, Breztri/Trixeo, Wainua and Kavigale. Many of these are partnered products, and the pipeline also lists late-stage candidates such as camizestrant, baxdrostat, tozorakimab, rilvegostomig, volrustomig and saruparib.

The text points to the Group's revenue and segment disclosures, but gives no customer or geographic detail. The therapy areas serve patients with cancers (breast, lung, prostate, gastric, bladder, liver and haematological malignancies), hypertension, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, obesity and diabetes, asthma, COPD, lupus, and rare diseases such as amyloidosis, myasthenia gravis and hypophosphatasia.

On operations, the text says the company works with partners on many products and pipeline assets, and its sponsored trials form the development pipeline. It notes that patents covering its products are routinely challenged by third parties, and that generic products may be launched at risk. Patent protection is extended by Supplementary Protection Certificates, Patent Term Extensions and paediatric exclusivity periods. Its registered office is at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.