AstraZeneca showed remarkable flexibility for a multinational of its size when, at the beginning of the 2007, it announced a strategic review, revealing its intention to focus on active internal growth only in certain key disease areas, while maintaining a number of its current therapy areas, but exiting from a total of seven others. To fuel the pipeline in its active growth areas, AstraZeneca is to increase its externalisation activities through both the signing of licence agreements and the formation of development alliances. The company’s commitment to this process has already been clearly demonstrated with the signing of four deals worth over US$2 B. This feature discusses the challenges faced by the company – foremost, the loss of revenues from patent expiries – and analyses the deals that have been signed so far.