INDEX / DIRECTORY / ASTRAZENECA / POLITICAL

AstraZeneca POLITICAL

POLITICAL AUDIT UPDATED 2026-09-22
Political Score 3.50 /10 C AstraZeneca - BDS-1000 448
Political 3.50

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream - see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

Forensic audits like this are reader-funded - no sponsors, no ads. Support OpenIntel →

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

AstraZeneca’s Israel country page describes an Israel-based operation engaged in sales, marketing, medical information, regulatory activity, clinical research and administration.1

AstraZeneca’s current Near East and Maghreb page states that the company has had a strong presence since 2020 in 12 markets, expressly including Palestine, and describes regional discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines.2

AstraZeneca’s supplier-contact table contains a Palestine accounts-payable and finance contact using a Jordan address in Sweifieh, Amman; this identifies a regional administrative route but does not establish a Palestinian entity, facility, sales outlet or clinical site.3

No public evidence identified of an AstraZeneca Israel/Palestine-conflict-specific corporate statement, relief commitment, product donation, advocacy intervention or crisis-logistics mobilisation in the targeted corporate-channel searches and reviewed materials.1, 2, 4

AstraZeneca reports global financial and non-financial disaster-relief and public-health donations of $10.7 million in 2025 and $11.2 million in 2024, while stating that product donations are made through non-profit partners in response to expressed need; the reviewed page does not identify Israel, Palestine, Gaza or a recipient in those locations.4

The reviewed materials describe general health, research and innovation activity in Israel, but do not establish an AstraZeneca public position on the conflict.1, 5, 6

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

AstraZeneca’s FY2024 subsidiary schedule lists AstraZeneca (Israel) Ltd and Alexion Pharma Israel Ltd as wholly owned group subsidiaries.7

AstraZeneca’s FY2025 subsidiary schedule confirms that AstraZeneca (Israel) Ltd and Alexion Pharma Israel Ltd remained 100%-owned group subsidiaries at 31 December 2025.8

The FY2025 schedule gives AstraZeneca (Israel) Ltd’s address as Atirei Yeda 1, Building O-Tech 2, POB 8044, Kfar Saba 4464301, Israel, and Alexion Pharma Israel Ltd’s address as 1 Atirei Yeda Street, O-Tech Building No. 2, fifth floor, Kfar Saba 4464301, Israel.8

AstraZeneca identifies AstraZeneca (Israel) Ltd at O-Tech 2, Atir Yeda Street 1, Kfar Saba, and describes an operation established at the end of 2008 that employs more than 100 people and is expanding its sales, marketing, medical and regulatory-affairs, clinical-research and administration functions.1

A separate AstraZeneca privacy-contact record lists AstraZeneca (Israel) Ltd at 6 Hacharash Street, Hod Hasharon; the differing addresses are unresolved in the available evidence.9, 8

AstraZeneca Medical provides an Israel patient-safety contact, including a local telephone number and an AstraZeneca Israel email address, supporting an active medical-information or pharmacovigilance contact function.10

No public evidence identified, in the targeted current corporate and official-source retrievals, of AstraZeneca premises, subsidiaries, distributors, contracts or clinical-research sites specifically located in Israeli settlements, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza or the Golan Heights.11, 12, 1, 8

The Palestine supplier contact does not establish a Palestinian-incorporated entity, local facility, sales outlet, clinical site or operations in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, the Golan Heights or settlements.3

A current EU Clinical Trials Information System record for an AstraZeneca-sponsored COVID-19 Phase III trial lists Israel among “rest of world” countries, but supplies neither Israel-site details nor a basis to locate any site in occupied territory.13

A 2012 Who Profits report stated that Teva subsidiary Salomon, Levin and Elstein distributed AstraZeneca products in Israel and operated throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, but it did not establish that AstraZeneca products were distributed in the occupied territory or settlements.14

The reported Salomon, Levin and Elstein arrangement is a historical intermediary lead, rather than verified evidence of AstraZeneca operations in occupied territory, and its continuity is unknown.14

The supplied document-scoped pre-scan found no AstraZeneca reference in the 2023 OHCHR settlement-business database, the 2025 OHCHR update or UN report A/HRC/59/23.15, 16, 17

OHCHR states that its 2023 database reassessed previously listed enterprises for the period from 1 August 2019 through 31 December 2022 and does not purport to be complete.15

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

The reviewed evidence concerns a pharmaceutical group rather than a consumer-content or retail-platform operator.11, 12

An IATI conference booklet attributed to AstraZeneca Israel states that it participated in an IATI human-resources workgroup addressing wartime recruitment, safety protocols and attendance policies; this is an industry-association-published statement and does not provide the underlying AstraZeneca policy or establish an Israel/Palestine-specific internal measure.5

No public evidence identified of AstraZeneca Israel/Palestine-related employee discipline, employment litigation, boycott-related employment action, shareholder-accountability action, content-governance rule, retail or product-labelling policy, or internal conflict-specific governance measure in the reviewed materials.1, 5, 18

The available research does not complete dedicated person-by-person, employment-dispute, internal-policy, social-media or content-moderation searches, so no broader conclusion should be drawn from those evidence gaps.18, 19

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

AstraZeneca PLC is an active UK public limited company incorporated on 17 June 1992, with registered SIC activities including pharmaceutical manufacture, wholesale and biotechnology research and development.11

Companies House records earlier names including Zeneca Group PLC, ICI Bioscience PLC and Hackplimco (No. Five) PLC.11

AstraZeneca’s FY2025 filing records that the company was formed through the 1993 demerger of ICI’s pharmaceutical, agrochemical and specialty-chemical businesses and merged with Astra of Sweden in 1999.12

AstraZeneca’s FY2025 annual-report information states that the company’s objects are unrestricted.19

No public evidence identified of a founding mandate, golden share, state-held share or corporate purpose tied to Israeli or other state geopolitical objectives.19

AstraZeneca states that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Israel Innovation Authority in May 2019 and characterises its BeyondBio activity as implementing that memorandum through investment in Israeli research and digital innovation.1

AstraZeneca identifies PlayBeyondBio partners as Jerusalem Venture Partners, Yozma Leumit, Maccabi Healthcare, Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, Microsoft and Cisco, and separately identifies an ARC partnership with Sheba Medical Center.1

A November 2019 Jerusalem Venture Partners announcement described BeyondBio as AstraZeneca’s first entry into the Israeli innovation sector, with an initial investment estimated at approximately NIS 10 million and collaboration involving Israeli health-care and research bodies.20

That announcement also described research-and-development support with the ARC Innovation Center at Sheba Medical Center, while the continuing status of the 2019 arrangements is not established by the source.20

An Israel Advanced Technology Industries conference booklet attributed to AstraZeneca Israel leadership states that AstraZeneca signed a further Israel Innovation Authority memorandum in 2024, partnered with Tel Aviv University to establish the Beam real-world-data research centre, and opened seven Israeli clinical trials.5

These 2024 claims were published by an industry association rather than an AstraZeneca filing, underlying government agreement or employment policy.5

The Israel Innovation Authority’s 2026 call for proposals identifies AstraZeneca-Beam as a global real-world-evidence centre led by AstraZeneca and established with Tel Aviv University, supporting public operation of the centre in 2026.6

An Israeli Ministry of Health report records a 2024 commercial research engagement for “AB AstraZeneca” valued at ₪376,740, but does not identify the precise contracting entity, project, location or present status.21

No public evidence identified in the reviewed primary and industry sources that the Israel Innovation Authority, BeyondBio, Beam, Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem Venture Partners, Sheba/ARC or PlayBeyondBio arrangements supplied military, defence, surveillance or settlement-specific products or services.1, 20, 5, 6

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

AstraZeneca states that AZPAC is financed solely through voluntary contributions from eligible employees and is registered with the U.S. Federal Election Commission as Zeneca Inc. PAC.22

AstraZeneca states that its political-selection criteria concern health-care and biopharmaceutical policy, relevant committees, employee and facility geography, leadership and corporate values.22

AstraZeneca also states that it makes corporate political contributions where permitted and files federal lobbying reports covering internal and external lobbying costs, relevant trade-association dues and federal issues lobbied.22

AstraZeneca’s 2025 corporate-contribution report records $100,000 contributions to each of Republican State Leadership, the Republican Governors Association, the Democratic Legislative Campaign and the Democratic Governors Association.23

The 2025 AZPAC/AlexionPAC report records, among other U.S. political disbursements, $15,000 each to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee.24

The FY2025 annual-report information records total 2025 U.S. legal-entity political contributions of $1,104,925 and states that the annual corporate-contributions budget is reviewed by the U.S. Vice President, Corporate Affairs and President of the U.S. business.19

Text searches of the two company-published 2025 political-finance reports found no occurrence of “Israel,” a finding limited to those reports and not evidence about other years, personal giving, indirect channels or regional-policy activity.24, 23

No public evidence identified of AstraZeneca corporate donations, products or logistics directed to the IDF, Friends of the IDF, JNF/KKL, settlement organisations, reservist funds, military-welfare bodies or settlement events in the targeted searches.1, 22, 24, 23

No public evidence identified of AstraZeneca corporate Israel/Palestine-specific government-facing political activity in the reviewed filings and corporate political-transparency materials.22, 19

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

AstraZeneca PLC’s 2025 Form 20-F identifies England and Wales as its jurisdiction of incorporation and Cambridge as its business address.12

The filing states that AstraZeneca controls subsidiaries directly or indirectly, normally through more than 50% ownership of share capital, while agreements may also confer financial decision-making authority.12

At 31 January 2026, the Form 20-F reported aggregate director and Senior Executive Team ownership of 544,012 ordinary shares, representing 0.04% of issued ordinary shares.12

The FY2025 annual-report information lists notified major holders as BlackRock, Inc. at 6.50%, The Capital Group Companies, Inc. at 4.97%, Wellington Management Group LLP at 4.20%, Wellington Management Company LLP at 4.20%, and Investor AB at 3.33%, all as reported at 31 January 2026.19

The filing explains that Wellington Management Company LLP’s position is included in Wellington Management Group LLP’s aggregate position, and cautions that notified interests may change without a new notification unless a notifiable threshold is crossed.19

The same filing states that AstraZeneca was not aware of being directly or indirectly owned or controlled by one or more corporations or any government, had received no other notifiable-interest notification and knew of no arrangement that could change control.19

No public evidence identified in the reviewed primary sources of Israel/Palestine political, military-welfare, settlement or advocacy conduct by BlackRock, Investor AB, Capital Group or Wellington that is attributable to AstraZeneca.19

The group’s stated corporate activities and SIC classifications identify it principally as a pharmaceutical manufacturer, wholesaler and biotechnology research-and-development business.11, 12

Executive & Leadership Footprint

As at 10 February 2026, AstraZeneca’s FY2025 annual-report information identifies Michel Demaré as non-executive Chair, Sir Pascal Soriot as chief executive officer and executive director, and Aradhana Sarin as chief financial officer and executive director.19

The current non-executive directors identified in that filing are Euan Ashley, Philip Broadley, Birgit Conix, Rene Haas, Karen Knudsen, Diana Layfield, Anna Manz, Sheri McCoy, Tony Mok, Nazneen Rahman and Marcus Wallenberg.19

The earlier leadership disclosure listed directors Philip Broadley, Euan Ashley, Birgit Conix, Karen Knudsen, Diana Layfield, Anna Manz, Wan Ling Martello, Sheri McCoy, Tony Mok and Marcus Wallenberg alongside Demaré, Soriot and Sarin.18

The FY2025 annual-report information states that Deborah DiSanzo and Andreas Rummelt retired from the board on 11 April 2025.19

AstraZeneca identifies Marcus Wallenberg as Chair of Saab AB, Wallenberg Investments AB and FAM AB; Vice-Chair of Investor AB and EQT AB; and a board member of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.18

Marcus Wallenberg is recorded as non-independent because he is a non-executive director of Investor AB, which the FY2025 annual-report information reports held 3.33% of AstraZeneca’s issued share capital at 31 January 2026.19

The leadership disclosure does not establish that any of Wallenberg’s outside organisations controls AstraZeneca or holds a controlling AstraZeneca shareholding.18, 19

No public evidence identified in the reviewed leadership and annual-report disclosures of Israel/Palestine-related personal donations, investments, affiliations, lobbying roles or public statements by Demaré, Soriot, Sarin, the identified directors or the Senior Executive Team.18, 19

The reviewed disclosures identify professional appointments and qualifications but do not disclose personal political contributions, family-office vehicles, private-foundation grants or Israel/Palestine-related philanthropy; person-by-person primary-source searches of charity, political-finance, investment and social-media records remain incomplete, so a definitive individual-level absence conclusion is not supportable.18, 19

Footnotes

  1. https://www.astrazeneca.com/country-sites/israel.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  2. https://www.astrazeneca.com/country-sites/near-east-and-maghreb.html ↩ ↩2

  3. https://www.astrazeneca.com/az-suppliers/supplier-contact-information.html ↩ ↩2

  4. https://www.astrazeneca.com/sustainability/health-equity/community-investment.html ↩ ↩2

  5. https://iati.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Booklet-2025.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/calls_for_proposal/international-rd-and-pilot-collaborations-2026/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/901832/000110465925014732/tm251208d3_ex99-1.pdf ↩

  8. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/901832/000110465926019130/R41.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. https://www.azprivacy.astrazeneca.com/ca/ca-en/privacy-contacts/ ↩

  10. https://contactazmedical.astrazeneca.com/global/en/footerlinks/contact-us.html ↩

  11. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02723534 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/901832/000110465926019130/azn-20251231x20f.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  13. https://www.ctis.eu/trial/2024-512554-15-00 ↩

  14. https://www.whoprofits.org/writable/uploads/publications/1668626890_1aa4455a6a4cc3b32b5d.pdf ↩ ↩2

  15. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session31/database-hrc3136/23-06-30-Update-israeli-settlement-opt-database-hrc3136.pdf ↩ ↩2

  16. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli ↩

  17. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/59/23 ↩

  18. https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-company/leadership.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  19. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/901832/000110465926019130/azn-20251231xex15d1.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16

  20. https://jvpvc.com/newsroom/combining-forces-multinational-pharmaceutical-company-astrazeneca-plc-jerusalem-venture-partners-jvp-signed-cooperation-agreement-identify-develop-invest-digital-health/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/unit/committee-commercial-contracts/he/files_committees_commercial-company_vaadat_hitkashruyot2024.pdf ↩

  22. https://www.astrazeneca-us.com/sustainability/Corporate-transparency/political-contributions.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  23. https://www.astrazeneca-us.com/content/dam/az-us/Documents/PoliticalContributions/2026/Zeneca-Inc-US-Corp-Political-Contributions-2025-fullyear.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  24. https://www.astrazeneca-us.com/content/dam/az-us/Documents/PoliticalContributions/2026/2025-AZPAC-AlexionPAC-Disbursements-fullyear.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3