AstraZeneca has expanded its blogging efforts with a new science-focused blog that it hopes will grow into an online scientific forum.

The new site aims to be a place that scientists from within AZ and the wider industry can discuss “cutting-edge science and innovation” and – perhaps somewhat hopefully - share their ideas and approaches.

Oliver Stohlmann, vice president of R&D communications, said: “The value of LabTalk is not only to raise the profile of innovative science, but it also gives AstraZeneca the opportunity to hear from our peers.

“Over time we hope to build up a rich library of content that will help tell the R&D story, both from AstraZeneca's and others' perspectives.”

The new initiative builds on AZ's Letters From The Lab articles that started running on its corporate website earlier this year, and adds traditional blogging tools for commenting and sharing to improve engagement.

“What's more,” Stohlmann added, “it will create a platform to showcase the great work of our scientists, making our work more transparent to potential collaborators.”

LabTalk will feature scientists, researchers and academics discussing “novel ideas, research and innovation”.

Introducing the blog, AZ's R&D president Martin Mackay said it would present “a fresh and different way to engage with new and existing peers, partners and others”.

“Simply put, we're going to discuss innovation in an innovative way which, I hope you will agree, is a welcome departure for big pharma,” he wrote.

The blog's regular authors will include VP of oncology science Kevin Webster; head of infection, global medicines development John Rex; and VP of AZ's 'virtual' Neuroscience iMed unit Samantha Budd.

LabTalk joins an expanding pharma blogosphere to sit alongside AZ's existing corporate AZ Health Connections blog and new or forthcoming initiatives from the likes of Lilly, Bayer and Boehringer. On the science front LabTalk joins Pfizer's Think Science Now and Lilly's Clinical Open Innovation.

• For full links to all these pharma blogs and more visit the Digital Handbook