AstraZeneca PLC

Is AstraZeneca a British or Swedish company?
AstraZeneca is a British-Swedish company. It was formed in 1999 by merging Sweden's Astra AB with the UK's Zeneca Group. Legally it is a UK public limited company headquartered in Cambridge, England, though it retains major operations in Sweden.

Is AstraZeneca publicly traded?
Yes. AstraZeneca PLC trades primarily on the London Stock Exchange under ticker AZN, where it is one of the largest FTSE 100 companies, and it maintains a secondary listing on Nasdaq under the same ticker.

When was AstraZeneca founded?
AstraZeneca was formed in 1999 through the Astra-Zeneca merger. Its roots extend to 1913, when Astra was founded in Sweden, and to Zeneca's 1993 spin-off from Imperial Chemical Industries.

Who leads AstraZeneca?
Pascal Soriot has been chief executive officer since 2012. He is credited with rebuilding the company's pipeline, rejecting Pfizer's 2014 takeover bid, and driving its current position as a top-tier oncology and rare disease company.

What is AstraZeneca's market position?
AstraZeneca is a top-10 global pharmaceutical company with $58.7 billion in 2025 revenue. It is a global leader in oncology and operates major franchises in CVRM, respiratory, and rare disease, with 16 blockbuster medicines and approximately 94,000 employees.

What are AstraZeneca's biggest products?
Tagrisso, Farxiga, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Soliris, Ultomiris, and Symbicort are among its largest products. Oncology alone generated $25.6 billion in 2025, and the company counts 16 medicines with annual sales above $1 billion.

AstraZeneca was created in 1999 through the merger of Astra AB, a Swedish pharmaceutical company founded in 1913, and Zeneca Group PLC, the bioscience arm spun off from Britain's Imperial Chemical Industries in 1993. The combination, at the time one of Europe's largest pharmaceutical mergers, paired Astra's strength in respiratory and gastrointestinal medicine with Zeneca's oncology and cardiovascular portfolio.

Early combined products included Losec (omeprazole), then one of the world's best-selling drugs, alongside Seroquel, Zoladex, and the oncology portfolio that later produced Iressa and Faslodex. The 2000s brought Crestor, Symbicort, and Nexium, which became major revenue drivers, though the company also absorbed heavy losses as early blockbusters lost patent protection.

A strategic reset followed the 2007 acquisition of MedImmune for $15.6 billion, which established a biologics business, and a leadership change in 2012 when Pascal Soriot became CEO. Soriot famously rejected Pfizer's $118 billion takeover approach in 2014, arguing AstraZeneca's pipeline was undervalued, a decision later vindicated as the company's oncology portfolio matured.

The 2010s delivered the current growth engine: Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, and Farxiga became multi-billion-dollar franchises, while the 2014 buyout of Bristol-Myers Squibb's stake in their diabetes alliance gave AstraZeneca full control of products including Onglyza and Farxiga. The 2021 acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39 billion added a rare disease segment anchored by Soliris and Ultomiris.

AstraZeneca also drew global attention with the 2020 development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, distributed at cost during the pandemic. FY2025 closed with $58.74 billion in revenue and 16 blockbuster medicines, the strongest pipeline performance in the company's history.

AstraZeneca operates an "Ambition Zero Carbon" program targeting decarbonization across operations and supply chain, with commitments covering Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and a transition to renewable energy at manufacturing sites. It is among the pharmaceutical companies with validated science-based targets.

The company publishes detailed ESG reporting including access-to-medicine programs for lower-income markets and a global health equity initiative. Its Alexion rare disease programs and vaccine access efforts in low-income countries form part of its social impact disclosures. It is not B Corp certified, which is typical for large pharmaceutical companies.

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine generated sustained regulatory attention after rare blood clotting events (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome) were linked to the shot in 2021, leading several countries to restrict its use in younger populations. The vaccine was later withdrawn from markets in 2024 as demand declined.

The company has faced drug pricing scrutiny, including selection of products for Medicare price negotiation under the US Inflation Reduction Act, and it paid settlements in earlier years over marketing practices, including a $520 million settlement with the US government in 2010 over Seroquel marketing.

Tax arrangements also drew scrutiny in the UK and EU during the 2010s, and the company was subject to a Chinese investigation into medical insurance fraud involving its oncology business that resulted in employee detentions and penalties in 2024-2025. Regulatory compliance programs were strengthened in response.