In this essay I will examine AstraZeneca PLC, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. By describing several relevant cases and commenting on them, I will try to evaluate to what extent the Company acts according to the principles that define its corporate governance and corporate social responsibility policies. To provide a brief overview, AstraZeneca PLC, formed on April 6, 1999, by the merger of the British Zeneca Group PLC and the Swedish Astra AB, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. This is well illustrated by some key facts listed on the company website: “Our products are available in over 100 countries; sales in 2005 were $24 billion, with operating profit of $6.5 billion; we spend more than $14 million every business day on research and development of new medicines that meet patient needs (total R&D spending in 2005: $3.4 billion); we employ approximately 12,000 people in research and development across 11 research and development centers in seven countries: Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, India and Japan; we have approximately 14,000 people in 27 production sites in 19 countries, in total we employ over 65,000 people worldwide: 58% in Europe, 28% in the Americas and 14% in the rest of the world” (AstraZeneca, 2006). AstraZeneca makes more than 97% of its sales in the prescription pharmaceutical industry, of course the Company's primary activities are the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of such medicines for various areas of healthcare; to name several examples, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neuroscience, oncology, infections, respiratory tract and inflammation. Top-selling AstraZeneca products include Arimidex, Crestor, Nexium, Seroquel and Symbicort. Due to the Company's specialization in the prescription phase...... half of the document...... at: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3374/is_10_25/ai_108969620/pg_2 (accessed November 21);10. Kelton, E. (2004). “Qui Tam Sales Tactics, Whistleblowers, and Lawsuits in the Pharmaceutical Industry,” available at: http://www.cafepharma.com/quitam.asp (accessed November 21);11. McRitchie, J. (2006). "Corporate Governance", available at: http://www.corpgov.net/ (last accessed November 21);12. NYSE Group (2006). “AstraZeneca Group plc,” available at: http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/azn.html (accessed November 21);13. Roth, J. (2003). “Enabling knowledge creation: Learning from an R&D organization,” Journal of Knowledge Management, 7(1), 32 – 48;14. U.S. Government Printing Office (2003). “AstraZeneca to Pay $355 Million Fine – Updates,” available at: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1370/is_5_37/ai_109906666 (accessed November 21).