AstraZeneca has acquired a biologics manufacturing facility in Montreal, Canada, from DSM Biologics Inc. The facility, occupying 66,000 sq. ft, will be used to manufacture antibody drug candidates for clinical trials and will serve the whole of the AstraZeneca group.

Dr John Patterson, AstraZeneca's executive director, development, said, "This is a further step in our global plan to accelerate the delivery of promising pre-clinical biopharmaceutical candidate drugs into our development portfolio. It extends the set of supply capabilities we have assembled through and Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) and takes advantage of the biotechnology skills in Quebec."

"This acquisition demonstrates our continued commitment to the province of Quebec," said Mark Jones, president and CEO, AstraZeneca Canada Inc. "Ultimately, this investment will help strengthen our pipeline by building a larger portfolio of biological drugs so that we can deliver valued medicines to patients."

Work will now start to re-commission the facility, and the company plans to commence full scale production in 2009.