AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Deepen Alliance, Merges Diabetes Team and Moves to U.S. HQs Seperate From Either Co.

Pascal Soriot started as chief executive officer of AstraZeneca on Oct. 1. He has already made top-level management changes and his early observations might foreshadow more shifting in how the British-based drugmaker operates. "We have become a little bit complicated," Soriot said during a conference call with reporters Thursday morning as the company released 2012 fourth-quarter and full-year financial results. Soriot ran a division of Roche before joining AstraZeneca, so he is used to a big company. "We have many management layers . . . so many committees, and we're a bit slow." AstraZeneca has one of three regional headquarters in Wilmington and another facility in Newark, Del. To cut through the layers and speed development of diabetes drugs through AstraZeneca's partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb, the two companies formed what is called the AZ-BMS Diabetes Alliance Team. The team will operate from an as yet undetermined location near Philadelphia, which is roughly halfway between Wilmington and Plainsboro-Princeton, where Manhattan-based BMS has facilities.

Back to news