Director Shareholding

AstraZeneca PLC
15 March 2005


Dealing by Directors
Companies Act 1985 Sections 324/329


We hereby inform you that on 14 March 2005, Sir Tom McKillop, a Director of the
Company, exercised an option over 24,513 AstraZeneca PLC USD0.25 Ordinary Shares
at an option price of 891 pence per share.  The option was granted to Sir Tom
McKillop in March 1995 under the Company's 1994 Executive Share Option Scheme
and is due to expire on 26 March 2005 if not exercised before then.


As a result of this exercise, Sir Tom McKillop holds options over 547,351
Ordinary Shares of AstraZeneca PLC.


We also inform you that on 14 March 2005, Sir Tom McKillop sold 10,180 of the
shares acquired from the exercise at an average price of 2176 pence per share in
order to meet the cost of exercising the option.


Following these transactions, Sir Tom McKillop has increased his holding in the
Company by 14,333 shares to 92,168 shares, which represents approximately 0.006%
of the issued ordinary capital of the Company.


G H R Musker
Company Secretary
15 March 2005





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