AstraZeneca has opened a new manufacturing and packaging facility in Kaluga, Russia with an investment of $224 million.

Commercial production is scheduled to begin early next year and will focus on final-stage manufacturing, packaging and quality control. The site will become fully operational in 2017 and will produce around 40 million packs and 850 million tablets of some 30 innovative medicines every year. This represents more than 60% of AstraZeneca's medicines marketed in Russia to treat diseases across the company's therapy areas.

AstraZeneca first established a presence in Russia in 1993, It now employs more than 1,400 people working across commercial, manufacturing, scientific, and clinical research, and enabling functions. In 2015, the company conducted 27 clinical trials in Russia involving more than 5,000 patients, and has several collaborations with academic and research institutions. Around 50 of AstraZeneca's innovative medicines are licensed for sale in Russia. In 2014, the company had product sales of $200 million in Russia.

The new facility adds to the expansion of AstraZeneca's global manufacturing capabilities, which further include planned biologics manufacturing investments in Sweden (announced in May 2015), the acquisition of a new site in Boulder, Colorado (announced in September 2015), and the expansion in Frederick, Maryland (announced in November 2014).

Source: AstraZeneca