INVESTOR NOTICE: MURRAY, FRANK & SAILER LLP ANNOUNCES A SHAREHOLDER CLASS ACTION HAS BEEN FILED AGAINST ASTRAZENECA PLC - AZN

New York, NY (PrimeZone) February 22, 2005 - Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on behalf of purchasers of AstraZeneca PLC (“AstraZeneca”) (NYSE: AZN) publicly-traded securities, including investors who purchased or acquired AstraZeneca securities on foreign markets and/or who purchased AstraZeneca’s American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) during the period between April 2, 2003 and October 11, 2004 (the “Class Period”).

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The complaint charges AstraZeneca and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. AstraZeneca is a pharmaceutical research company specializing in research and development of drugs to treat cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neuroscience, oncology, respiratory and inflammation and infection disorders.

The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants issued numerous materially false and misleading statements concerning the results of the clinical trials of the Company’s investigational oral anticoagulant Exanta, and the status and likelihood of the approval of the New Drug Application for Exanta. These statements caused the Company’s stock/ADR prices to rise until September 9, 2004, when staffers at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) posted briefing documents on the FDA’s website which raised previously unheard-of problems with Exanta. Then, on October 11, 2004 the Company issued a press release stating, in relevant part, that they received an Action Letter from the FDA for Exanta. The release stated that “the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not grant approval for the investigational oral anticoagulant EXANTA (ximelagatran).” On news of the conclusion reached in the FDA’s action letter, the Company’s stock price declined to $38 per share, erasing millions of dollars in market capitalization from the Class Period high of $51.20 per share reached on March 9, 2004 on the NYSE, GBP 2,894 per share reached on October 28, 2003 on the London Stock Exchange, and SEK 380.50 per share reached on October 29, 2003 on the Stockholm exchange.

Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP and its predecessor firms have devoted its practice to shareholder class actions and complex commercial litigation for more than thirty years and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for shareholders in class actions throughout the United States.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired AstraZeneca securities between April 2, 2003 and October 11, 2004, and sustained damages, you may, no later than March 28, 2005, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff. Shareholders outside the United States may also join the action, regardless of which exchange was used to purchase the securities. To serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. You can join this class action as lead plaintiff online at http://www.murrayfrank.com/CM/NewCases/NewCases.asp. If you would like to discuss this action, this announcement, or your rights and interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel Eric J. Belfi or Aaron D. Patton of Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP.