AstraZeneca to open hub in Barcelona creating 1,000 jobs in five years

The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will open a research and development hub in Barcelona to develop new therapies, as was announced on Wednesday. The company will create 1,000 new jobs in the next five years.

AstraZeneca considers Spain's R&D ecosystem to be "first class," which is why it is "committed to working with the government to unleash the potential of innovative medicines as a driver of long-term economic growth," Pascal Soriot, the CEO of AstraZeneca, said ahead of the announcement.

With this in mind, the company will invest €800 million in its new European hub based in the Catalan capital, but only "if the situation in the territory remains stable," AstraZeneca announced.

The hub will be one of its kind for the company as it will "integrate the innovative capacities of AstraZeneca, and Alexion, the company's rare diseases division.

According to data from the Catalonia Trade & Investment Office, Catalonia ranks sixth in Europe in the development of clinical trials, with more than 1,200 that are active, half of which are to do with cancer, one of AstraZeneca's strongest areas.  

The center AstraZeneca will open in Barcelona "gives the world an image of Catalonia as a prepared, capable, and attractive hub to receive investments of this type," business minister Roger Torrent said.

"Basing this hub in Barcelona is a clear indication that our company wants to intensify our country's growth via innovation, and always thinking on the needs of the patient, using digital technology and data science to move forward with latest developing technologies," Rick Suárez, the president of AstraZeneca in Spain, said on Wednesday during a press conference held in Torre Glòries.

The company's representatives had already met with the Spanish vice president and economy minister, Nadia Calviño, on Monday, after announcing that during 2022 the business invested €400 million in projects and hired 20% more staff, reaching 1,300 workers.

Last year, AstraZeneca already announced the opening of a new hub in Barcelona for the development of drugs for rare diseases, a project that meant the creation of 100 specialized jobs in research and development. In that case, the investment was €32 million.

International projects coordination

The new hub will coordinate international projects in five different areas such as oncology; cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism; respiratory diseases and immunology; vaccines and immunotherapies; and rare diseases.

With all the technological and professional resources specialized in the investigation, the hub intends to become one of the most important in Europe for its "excellence in clinical innovation," AstraZeneca said.