Key Facts & Figures

Clearly positioned among the world's leading biotechnology companies, MedImmune has leveraged its own organic growth, and has also expanded through the key acquisitions of U.S. Bioscience in 1999 and Aviron in 2002, as well as the integration with Cambridge Antibody Technology and the strategic alignment with our new parent company, AstraZeneca, in 2007. Our rapid expansion is also attributable to the activities of our business development department, responsible for actions such as strategic in-licensing, and to the launch of MedImmune Ventures Inc., a wholly-owned capital venture fund.

A Company of Firsts

MedImmune has established itself as an innovator within the biotechnology sector as a result of several firsts. These include:

  • Development and commercialization of Synagis® (palivizumab), the first monoclonal antibody approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an infectious disease. To date, more than 1 million babies have received Synagis (Click here for Important Safety & Prescribing Information.)
  • Development of virus-like particle (VLP) technology for use in the new human papillomavirus vaccines, which are used to prevent cervical cancer
  • Researchers from the Cambridge, UK-based biotech that is now part of MedImmune discovered an important anti-TNF antibody that is now marketed by Abbott.
  • Development and commercialization of FluMist® (Influenza Vaccine Live, Intranasal), one of the biggest advances in flu vaccine technology in more than 60 years and the only live, attenuated, needle-free influenza vaccine to be approved in the United States (Click here for Important Safety & Prescribing Information.)

With ambitious development goals through 2010 that include the potential for at least three programs progressing to pivotal clinical trials, our goal is to build upon our unique position in the biotechnology sector but now on a global scale.