Director Shareholding

AstraZeneca PLC
30 June 2005


Dealing by Directors
Companies Act 1985 Sections 324/329


We hereby inform you that on 29 June 2005 the following Directors of AstraZeneca
PLC were each granted an award under the terms of the AstraZeneca Performance
Share Plan over the Company's USD0.25 Ordinary Shares.

                      Target number of   Award price                    Total interest in  Percentage of
Name of Director      shares awarded     per share   Normal vesting     shares after this  shares in issue
                                                     date               award
                                                     
Sir Tom McKillop      104,417            2241p       29 June 2008       197,032            0.012%

J R Symonds           47,723             2241p       29 June 2008       59,250             0.004%

J S Patterson         41,945             2241p       29 June 2008       42,448             0.003%


The AstraZeneca Performance Share Plan was approved by shareholders at the
Company's AGM on 28 April 2005.  Awards made under the Plan may not generally
vest before the third anniversary of the relevant date of grant nor unless the
specified performance target(s) have been met at the end of the three year
period which, for this award, is 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2007.

The performance target that applies to this award is the Company's Total
Shareholder Return ('TSR') compared to the TSR of a selected peer group of 12
other pharmaceutical companies.  The actual number of shares to which a
participant may become unconditionally entitled will depend on the extent to
which the performance target(s) have been met.  A summary of the Plan, including
a more detailed explanation of the performance target(s), can be found in the
AstraZeneca Notice of AGM 2005 which is available on the Company's website
www.astrazeneca.com.

David R. Brennan, a Director of the Company, who is not included in this award,
was granted an award of shares under the terms of the AstraZeneca US Executive
Performance Share Plan in March 2005 as previously announced.


G H R Musker
Company Secretary
30 June 2005




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