The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will invest $15 billion in drug production and research in China by 2030. The news was announced during the visit of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Beijing.
„The investment expands AstraZeneca's already significant R&D base, including its global strategic research centers in Beijing and Shanghai, which collaborate with more than 500 teaching hospitals and have conducted numerous global clinical trials over the past three years. The company will also expand its existing manufacturing facilities in Wuxi, Taizhou, Qingdao and Beijing, which will deliver high-quality medicines to patients in China and 70 global markets, and establish new sites to be announced later,“ the press release said.
AstraZeneca stressed that “together these investments will expand the company's highly skilled workforce in China to more than 20,000 people and create thousands of additional jobs in the healthcare system“. “Building on its successful collaboration with the universities of Cambridge and Peking, AstraZeneca is working with other leading research and financial institutions, including the University of Oxford, the University of Glasgow, King's College London and HSBC, to further develop synergies between the dynamic ecosystems in both countries,“ the statement noted.