Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is pledging $820 million towards an expanded research and development hub in Mississauga, the company says.
The investment will bankroll the firm’s move to a larger office facility in Mississauga and generate more than 700 jobs across all divisions of the company, AstraZeneca said in a Jan. 23 press release.
Premier Doug Ford announced in a Jan. 23 statement that the province would support the expansion with $16.1 million in funding through its Invest Ontario Fund.
AstraZeneca said its Ontario expansion would help the company reach its US$80 billion in total revenue target while bringing 20 new medicines to patients by 2030. The British-Swedish pharmaceutical and biotechnology company has completed eight of the 20 new medicines thus far.
The Mississauga facility, with its staff of 1,500, serves as a clinical hub for the company, AstraZeneca said. The expansion is part of the company’s plan to finalize more than 210 global clinical trials, with seven phase three data readouts planned for this year.
“This investment is a reflection of … our strong belief in Canada’s potential as a global hub for life sciences innovation,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in the press release. “We believe the diverse talent pool together with the network of world-class universities, hospitals, and research centres will help us bring new medicines to Canadians and patients worldwide.”
In 2023 the firm opened a rare disease research hub in the GTA. That project combined with the 2025 expansion adds up to a more than $1.3 billion in Ontario investments to date.
The company is headquartered in the United Kingdom with research and development centres in the UK, the United States, Sweden, and Poland.
AstraZeneca Canada President Gaby Bourbara said the funds the company has sunk into its Ontario facilities are part of its plan to advance “innovative medicines that treat, prevent and may one day cure complex diseases.”
Ford has been pushing Ontario as a destination for life science companies to set up shop since 2018 and introduced a plan in 2022 to expand the sector in the province. The government last fall earmarked $146 million to encourage growth in the biomanufacturing and health sciences sector.
