AstraZeneca opens $1 billion global research centre in Cambridge Massachusetts that will lift its local workforce by more than 50 per cent

AstraZeneca has opened a new global strategic research and development centre in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, putting its scientists in the middle of one of the most productive life sciences clusters in the world. The facility expands the company’s existing operations in Cambridge and Boston.

Taken together with its genomic medicine site at 100 Binney Street, the new AstraZeneca R&D Center Kendall Square will house close to 2,000 researchers and scientists. Their job will be to move forward the company’s pipeline in oncology, cell therapy, chronic disease and rare disease.

The building at 290 Binney Street covers 570,000 square feet across 18 storeys and was designed to encourage collaboration, using the highest sustainable design standards to limit its environmental footprint. Ten of its floors are given over to connected laboratories, equipped with robotics, continuous automation and agentic AI so that experiments can move smoothly from one stage to the next. Scientists there will work on treatments for conditions including COPD, obesity and metabolic disease, breast cancer and rare diseases, while also pursuing newer areas such as cell therapy and biologics that the company expects to drive growth beyond 2030.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer of AstraZeneca, described Kendall Square as one of the leading innovation hubs and one of the key places where the company will find its next scientific breakthroughs. He said the new centre shows both AstraZeneca’s long term commitment to Massachusetts and its confidence in taking innovation developed in the US to patients around the world.

The opening is a major moment in AstraZeneca’s history in Massachusetts, which stretches back more than 75 years. The investment of more than $1 billion in the state forms part of a wider $50 billion US spending plan and is expected to expand the company’s Massachusetts workforce by over 50 per cent in the coming years, while adding billions in economic value and jobs across the Commonwealth.

Maura Healey, governor of Massachusetts, said the state leads the world in life sciences because it gathers the best talent, institutions and ideas to tackle hard problems and improve lives. She called AstraZeneca’s investment a major vote of confidence in Massachusetts and its people, said she looked forward to watching the future of medicine take shape in Kendall Square, and promised the state will keep competing for the investment, jobs and breakthroughs that will shape the next generation of medicine.

AstraZeneca regards the state as a critical hub because of its concentration of scientific talent, leading universities, health systems and industry partners. The company says it plans to create lasting scientific and community value through academic research partnerships, spending on STEM education, workforce development, and support for local organisations that help to power innovation and train the next generation of biomedical researchers.

The new centre adds to AstraZeneca’s R&D presence in more than 40 countries, including its other US global strategic research centre in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Within the US, it joins a coast to coast network of 24 research, manufacturing, commercial and corporate sites. AstraZeneca employs more than 25,000 people in the country and supports nearly 100,000 jobs overall.

---

---

Related Topics and Keywords

AstraZeneca, Cambridge Massachusetts