AstraZeneca Annual Report and Form 20-F Information 2008

R&D Executive Committee, governance and portfolio management

The R&D Executive Committee oversees and prioritises our portfolio of both small molecule and biological discovery and development projects from across the Group (whether originating from our own R&D activities or from external sources). On an annual basis it takes a view across all therapy areas and makes decisions based on unmet therapeutic need, commercial and scientific opportunity, competitive position and capability mix. It is also charged with overseeing a portfolio review process intended to ensure that internal and external opportunities are reviewed using the same criteria and that there is a clear externalisation strategy aligned with the disease area strategies.

The Committee has the following accountabilities:

• To establish a series of disease area strategies through joint therapy area strategy teams and to bring them together into a single AstraZeneca portfolio across small molecules and biologics.
• To develop enabling strategies to ensure the optimal delivery of the disease area strategic targets, including technology strategies, capital expenditure, capability mix, shape and size and geographic footprint of the R&D organisation.
• To work with the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer to agree an overall R&D budget for AstraZeneca and, within the R&D Executive Committee, allocate that budget to discovery and development activities across small molecules and biologics.
• To conduct a portfolio review process to evaluate all potential new medicines within the business to ensure resource prioritisation and delivery in line with that process. In particular, this process is intended to ensure that internal and external opportunities are reviewed using the same criteria and that there is a clear externalisation strategy, aligned with and complementary to, the disease area strategies, the internal portfolio and local market needs.

The R&D Executive Committee currently comprises the Executive Vice-President, Discovery Research; The Executive Vice-President, Development; the Executive Vice-President, Clinical Research and Chief Medical Officer, MedImmune; the Chief Executive Officer, North America and Executive Vice-President, Global Marketing and the President of MedImmune; the Senior Vice-President, Strategic Planning and Business Development; the Vice-President, R&D Finance; and the Vice-President, Development Projects.

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