B
- Beta-agonist
A medicine that relaxes the muscles around the airways and thereby eases restricted breathing during an asthma attack or in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- Beta-blocker
A medicine used to treat various cardiovascular diseases that acts by blocking receptors at nerve endings.
- Biomarker
A characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacological responses to a therapeutic intervention.
- Biopharmaceuticals/Biologics
A class of medicines derived from proteins usually produced naturally by living organisms in response to disease, for example antibodies.
- Biosimilars
Follow-on biopharmaceuticals that are biologically similar to an existing medicine.
- Bipolar disorder
Any of several mood disorders characterised usually by alternating episodes of depression and mania or by episodes of depression alternating with mild non-psychotic excitement.
- Board
The Board of Directors of AstraZeneca PLC.
- BRCA-Mutated Breast Cancer
A form of breast cancer caused by the mutation of the gene that normally acts to restrain the growth of cells in the breast.
- Bronchodilator
A drug that causes the widening of the bronchi (major air passages of the lungs).