AstraZeneca Invests In Swedish Venture

AstraZeneca will invest between $5 million and $10 million annually for five years in an academic research institute planned for Sweden. The Science for Life Laboratory, or SciLifeLab, is a joint venture of the Karolinska Institute, the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, and Uppsala University. To open in 2013, the national institute will investigate the molecular basis of complex human diseases and seek diagnostic biomarkers. In addition to government funding and the AstraZeneca investment, SciLifeLab will get $33 million from the Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the largest private financer of research in Sweden.