Charnwood
AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood is situated on the edge of Loughborough - a bustling market town in north west Leicestershire. As the town's second largest employer, with 1,300 staff, AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood has a high profile in the area, and occupies a 28ha site bordering open meadowland.
As a dedicated Research & Development site it encompasses all major R&D functions, along with essential support services and infrastructure, necessary to achieve its goal to discover and develop new medicines.
Research
Our research work at the Charnwood site is focused on finding new medicines for respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema (diseases often associated with smoking and for which new medicines are desperately needed) as well as inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. A focussed safety assessment unit plays a key role in the research phase.
Development
Our development capabilities at the site include Pharmaceutical and Analytical R&D, Process R&D and Clinical, predominantly for the Respiratory, Inflammation and Cardiovascular areas. Process R&D ensures that commercially viable processes for medicine production are designed, developed and scaled-up for transfer to manufacturing sites. Pharmaceutical and Analytical R&D develops medicine formulations and appropriate delivery devices. The Clinical function designs and delivers clinical trials and programmes around the world to establish the efficacy of new medicines, as well as providing medical and scientific input to the research phase. The Charnwood Clinical facilities include a hospital-based CPU (Clinical Pharmacology Unit) at Nottingham.
The Regulatory function at Charnwood provides in-depth knowledge, interpretation and practical application of regulations governing development, manufacturing, registration, marketing and maintenance of medicines across several disease areas.
Global Expertise
Charnwood's Pharmaceutical and Analytical R&D is AstraZeneca's global centre of excellence for the development of pMDIs (pressurised Metered Dose Inhalers). The Charnwood Clinical function is the company's global clinical centre of excellence for Inflammation. The global Advanced Science & Technology Laboratory, which investigates and evaluates leading edge technology, is also based at Charnwood.
Science Park Environment
Continued investment in Charnwood site is helping to create a high quality science park environment. Recent new facilities include a £45m Pharmaceutical Development Facility officially opened in 2001. This state-of-the-art facility provides development, manufacturing and dispensing for worldwide clinical trials and has increased pMDI development capacity. In September 2002 new £42m Process R&D laboratories were officially opened. 2004 saw the opening of the £11M Clinical building and in 2006 the new £16m Biology was completed. This expansion enhances our worldwide development capabilities and provides an exceptionally high standard of accommodation and equipment.
Collaborations
AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood has developed close links and collaborations with a range of organisations, academic institutions and professional bodies both in the UK and internationally.
At a local level, the Charnwood site plays a major role in the community. The focus is on identified needs such as education, particularly science-based initiatives, improving the health and well-being of the community and enabling our staff to develop and share their considerable skills with local groups.
