MedImmune announced the opening of a new, biologics research and development (R&D) facility in Cambridge, the United Kingdom. Named after the 1982 Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry, the Aaron Klug Building is a major expansion of MedImmune's existing Granta Park site, further cements the region as a major R&D centre for the company, and provides additional laboratory space for MedImmune's growing scientific staff in Cambridge.

The Aaron Klug Building is a 92,000-square-foot facility containing state-of-the-art laboratories. The facility provides MedImmune with capacity to significantly increase the number of candidate drugs that it can develop each year in order to meet R&D goals.

The expansion forms a key part of MedImmune's growth strategy. Following its acquisition by AstraZeneca in June 2007, MedImmune was consolidated with the former Cambridge Antibody Technology business, along with other areas of biological research being conducted elsewhere within AstraZeneca. Now as AstraZeneca's global biologics unit, MedImmune plays a significant role in AstraZeneca's strategic growth plans -- the aim is to deliver an average of one new biologic product per year from 2013.

Jane Osbourn, site leader and vice president of research, Cambridge, said: "Today, MedImmune has one of the largest and most diverse biologics product pipelines in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. We want to maximise our potential to develop new and better medicines, so adequate space and resource for R&D is a real priority for us.

"Our experience and expertise in Cambridge means the U.K. team plays a central role in MedImmune's global research activity. The Aaron Klug Building is critical to allowing us to fulfil this role and to achieve our goal of significantly increasing our drug development capabilities," Osbourn added.

The new facility is being inaugurated today with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque by honoured guest, Sir Aaron Klug.

The Aaron Klug Building forms part of MedImmune's wider expansion of its European operations. Its opening follows the recent refurbishment and expansion of one of the company's major production sites in Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where products such as Synagis (palivizumab) and Ethyol (amifostine) are prepared for distribution. Completed in early 2008, the newly refurbished site is capable of producing up to 10 discrete products each year, equating to 6.5 million vials.

MedImmune is a leading innovation-focused biotechnology company whose mission it is to provide better medicines to patients, new medical options for physicians and rewarding careers to employees. Dedicated to advancing science and medicine to help people live better lives, the company is focused on infection, oncology, respiratory disease and inflammation, cardiovascular/ gastrointestinal disease and neuroscience.