AstraZeneca Canada Inc. invests more than $100 million in research and development in Canada on an annual basis. It is a company that recognizes the value of partnerships in research. Indeed, it has actively sought to join forces with other stakeholders in healthcare to develop various approaches to innovation, drug discovery, and ultimately disease treatment and management.

The Mississauga-based firm recently teamed with Quebec’s Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade, Pfizer Canada, and Merck Frosst Canada to form the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery, known by the French acronym CQDM. Members of the CQDM have a common objective, which is to inspire new directions in drug discovery and development.

AstraZeneca is working in conjunction with Pfizer, the Fonds de la recherché en santé du Québec, and Quebec’s Health and Social Service Ministry to develop a deeper understanding of chronic pain and assist clinicians in diagnosing and treating chronic pain more effectively. This partnership will serve to reinforce the Quebec Pain Research Network, which links pain clinics at Quebec’s four medical-research universities and virtually brings together 75 physicians and researchers specialized in chronic pain across the province. In addition, the company has explored the fertile research environment in the academic milieu, developing a $2.5 million partnership with McGill University in chronic pain research.

The firm has given investment boosts to other universities, pledging $3 million to establish a research chair in asthma at the University of Alberta, and making a $1 million commitment to establish a fellowship at the University of Manitoba, dedicated to identifying and understanding the gaps that exist in the delivery of healthcare to rural, remote, and under-serviced communities.

Through strategic collaboration with partners in healthcare, AstraZeneca says it is supporting an environment where research can flourish and translate into significant contributions to medical research and innovation in Canada.