The official opening of the new facility was performed by Jan Lundberg, AstraZeneca Executive Vice President, Global Discovery Research.

The LSL is a key link between the laboratory-scale research and development of new products and full manufacture. It makes the quantities of development products which are necessary for use in clinical trials, and plays an important part in starting to develop the process for their eventual commercial-scale manufacture.

Said Jan Lundberg: “Opening the new LSL marks an important milestone in our programme of investments, both in the UK and globally, which will help to keep AstraZeneca as one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

 “It will assist in maintaining our high quality portfolio of innovative products for important areas of medical need.”

Guests at the opening of the LSL, included the Mayor of Macclesfield Borough, Councillor Mrs Joan Barnes, Chairman of Cheshire County Council Councillor Barrie Hardern and Macclesfield MP Sir Nicholas Winterton together with other distinguished guests. The new LSL replaces earlier facilities of this type at the Macclesfield site. With a staff of 14, it has three floors which include laboratories and state-of-the-art provision for preparative chromatography – a technique used for separating and purifying materials.

The building has been designed and constructed to the highest regulatory and safety standards, and offers AstraZeneca enhanced capability in flexibility and speed of response during the early stages of development of a product.

It will be used for projects connected with various disease areas, including oncology (cancer). The nearby AstraZeneca site at Alderley Park, Cheshire is the Company’s centre of excellence in oncology research and development.

AstraZeneca’s investment in the UK – from 1999 and planned until 2006 – is approaching  £1 billion, with the creation of over 550 new science-related jobs.

AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of over $18.8 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience and respiratory products. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global and European) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.

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