AstraZeneca integrates CAT and MedImmune

Cambridge Antibody Technology, which was acquired by AstraZeneca in June 2006, is changing its name to MedImmune, bought this year (Marketletters passim) to reflect the Anglo-Swedish drug major's vision for its worldwide biologics business. The new business unit will unite the resources and expertise from CAT, the pre-existing MedImmune and other biologics activities within the AstraZeneca group, under the MedImmune name. With this structure, AstraZeneca says it has immediately created one of the world's leading vertically-integrated biotechnology businesses, with revenues of over $1.3 billion in 2006, a pipeline of around 100 research projects and more than a dozen clinical product candidates, and over 3,000 employees worldwide.

"The new MedImmune is now the operationally independent and strategically aligned biologics business unit of Astra Zeneca," said David Mott, MedImmune chief executive, adding: "bringing together the biologics expertise of CAT, MedImmune and AstraZeneca allows us to preserve MedImmune's traditional biotech agility and entrepreneurial spirit while encouraging strategic collaboration and cross fertilization of ideas under AstraZeneca's world-class research umbrella.

As part of the integration, John Stageman, vice president of AstraZeneca biopharmaceutical strategic planning, assumes the role of interim site head in Cambridge, UK.