The king and queen of Sweden visited AstraZeneca’s new Discovery Centre today (Thursday), where they heard about the technology the company is using to develop new therapies.

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia visited the £1billion R&D site on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, known as the DISC, which was officially opened in November by Prince Charles.

The visit was hosted by the British-Swedish company’s chairman Leif Johansson and Sir Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, biopharmaceuticals R&D.

Sir Mene told the Cambridge Independent: “We were honoured to welcome King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden to our Discovery Centre, together with the Swedish minister for education and research, alongside delegates from her ministry, the Swedish Embassy and Business Sweden.

“It was a privilege to show the king and queen our cutting-edge science, including organ chips, advanced integrated imaging, augmented lab technology and cellular heartbeats.

“They also heard from colleagues who played a crucial role in the Covid-19 pandemic, including how we developed the vaccine and our preventative antibody therapy, Evusheld.”

As part of their visit to Cambridge, the king and queen were also hosted by Prof Stephen Toope, vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge, at King’s College for a celebration of Anglo-Swedish scientific co-operation.

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