AstraZeneca invests $94 million in new turbuhaler-production at Södertälje in Sweden

ASTRAZENECA INVESTS $94 MILLION IN NEW TURBUHALER PRODUCTION AT SÖDERTÄLJE IN SWEDEN AstraZeneca announced today a $94 million investment in expansion of the production capacity for the Turbuhaler dry powder inhaler at the Snäckviken plant at Södertälje, Sweden. The new Turbuhaler facilities are scheduled to start operating at the end of 2002 and will manufacture the asthma treatments Pulmicort and Oxis , as well as future products in AstraZeneca's respiratory pipeline. The expansion of AstraZeneca's Turbuhaler manufacturing capacity adds to the ongoing programme of investments at Södertälje of approximately $600 million, creating more than 1,000 new jobs during a four-year period and involving a significant increase over today's 6,100 AstraZeneca employees at Södertälje. Today, 450 employees work with the production of the Turbuhaler at Snäckviken. AstraZeneca also manufacture Turbuhaler at Dunkerque, France, where 200 employees work with Turbuhaler production. Dr Barrie Thorpe, Executive Vice President of Operations for AstraZeneca PLC, said: "This investment is critical to ensure unconstrained supply of Turbuhaler. Successful introduction of the new products in our pipeline relies on important manufacturing know-how and since AstraZeneca has its core capability of Turbuhaler production concentrated in Södertälje, building the skills and experience we have there is absolutely the right thing to do." Further enquires to: Mikael Widell, tel: +44 171 304 5030, +44 7715 011140 Staffan Ternby, +46 70 557 43 00 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/02/23/20000223BIT00140/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/02/23/20000223BIT00140/bit0002.pdf