UNITED KINGDOM –AstraZeneca has announced the launch of a global R&D Postdoctoral Challenge to help accelerate ideas that will transform the treatment of some of the world’s most complex diseases.

The challenge, which was launched at EXPO 2020 Dubai, invites final-year MD and/or PhD students, as well as postdoctoral researchers from around the world, to submit innovative ideas to help accelerate drug discovery and development across AstraZeneca’s core disease areas.

Successful candidates will be awarded a fully funded postdoctoral research position and will join AstraZeneca’s vibrant scientific community.

Working with a leading university, the researchers will also have access to in-house expertise, compounds, novel tools and technologies, and mentoring to help them develop and innovate their ideas.

Prof. Sir Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, said: “The events of the past two years clearly show the need to push the boundaries of medical science has never been more urgent.

Rapid progress in disease understanding, as well as scientific and technological advances are genuinely changing our expectations of what is possible.

We are delighted to launch the R&D Postdoctoral Challenge to support the next generation of science leaders and help them translate their ideas into meaningful benefits for patients.”

Shortlisted applicants will have the opportunity to pitch their research ideas to a panel of AstraZeneca and external life science leaders in October, with finalists chosen later in the year.

Proposals will be evaluated based on their scientific merit as well as their potential to have a real impact on patients, society, and healthcare systems.

More information about the R&D Postdoctoral Challenge, including eligibility requirements and instructions on how to submit innovative research proposals, can be found at: https://openinnovation.astrazeneca.com/rd-postdoctoral-challenge.html.

The R&D Postdoctoral Challenge is part of AstraZeneca’s Early Talent programs, which aim to develop tomorrow’s science leaders while also encouraging diversity of thought in an environment conducive to scientific advancement.

AstraZeneca’s global R&D footprint and productivity

In 2021, AstraZeneca will invest US$8 billion in R&D, or roughly 21% of its total revenue, to continue to discover and develop medicines that will improve the lives of patients.

The Company has three world-class strategic R&D centers, including The Discovery Centre (DISC) in Cambridge, the United Kingdom, one in Gaithersburg, United States, and another in Gothenburg, Sweden, as well as additional hubs around the world.

Using its unique scientific capabilities, it has integrated R&D teams and accelerated decision-making processes to deliver one of the most productive pipelines in the industry.

Since 2005, AstraZeneca has increased the proportion of its pipeline molecules that have progressed from preclinical investigation to completion of Phase III clinical trials nearly sixfold – from 4% to 23%.

This increase puts AstraZeneca well above the industry average success rate of 14% for the 2018-2020 timeframe.

More than 13,000 of the Company’s 80,000 employees work solely in R&D. In 2021, its scientists published 871 manuscripts, 196 of which were in high impact peer-review journals (impact factor greater than or equal to 15 according to Reuters five-year rating), up from one in 2010.

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