# How AstraZeneca uses GitHub copilot

**9-10 hours**: “engineers are getting 9-10 hours of extra output per week”

As published on [github.com](https://github.com/customer-stories/astrazeneca), November 2025. Captured by usedby on 2026-10-02.

- Company: [AstraZeneca](https://www.usedby.ai/companies/astrazeneca.md)
- Tool: [GitHub copilot](https://www.usedby.ai/tools/github-copilot.md)
- Industry: [Biotech & Pharma](https://www.usedby.ai/companies/industry/biotech-pharma.md)
- Teams: software engineers, data scientists, researchers

## What the story says

AstraZeneca unified its developers, data scientists and researchers on GitHub Enterprise and uses GitHub Copilot, including agent mode and the coding agent, in daily development work. Copilot was rolled out after legal, cybersecurity and ethics reviews, with team-based training.

Summary written by usedby from the source page, in English. The figures are those of GitHub copilot and AstraZeneca, not ours.

> The impact was big: by learning to use Copilot’s agent mode in their daily work, pilot squads saw an immediate 40% increase in development velocity.

- **40%**: “The impact was big: by learning to use Copilot’s agent mode in their daily work, pilot squads saw an immediate 40% increase in development velocity.”
- **1,600**: “A goal to onboard 1,000 users within a year was shattered in just six months, with over 1,600 developers and scientists onboarded, and active usage growing by 20% per month.”

> GitHub Copilot delivered immediate impact. Achieving return on investment within a single sprint cycle rarely occurs with technology implementations.
>
> Paul Ordman, Director of Software Engineering

## What usedby checked

We compared the story with its live page on 2026-10-03.

- Checked: the figure 9-10 hours is printed word for word on the page, near the name of AstraZeneca.
- Checked: the passage quoted above is copied word for word from the page, near the name of AstraZeneca.
- Checked: the publication date is read from the page’s own metadata, never guessed.
- Checked: AstraZeneca uses GitHub copilot. Confirmed line. Latest check across sources: 2026-10-05.
- Not checked: the result itself. We quote it; we did not measure it.

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Source: https://www.usedby.ai/case-studies/astrazeneca-github-copilot · How we check: https://www.usedby.ai/methodology