AstraZeneca has shown its commitment to China amid investigations into its executives and activities, outlining plans to establish a global strategic R&D center in Beijing as part of a $2.5 billion investment in the city.
Chinese authorities detained AstraZeneca’s former China head Leon Wang last year and revealed a probe into potential illegal drug importation early this year. Against that backdrop, AstraZeneca has reiterated its commitment to China and voiced confidence in the leadership team that is in place in the country. AstraZeneca put a dollar value on that commitment Friday.
Tallying up a wide range of investments, AstraZeneca said it is pumping $2.5 billion into Beijing. The figure includes outlays on partnerships with Harbour BioMed, Syneron Bio and BioKangtai and cash for establishing a new R&D center in Beijing. The company plans to grow its head count in Beijing, the political center of China, to 1,700.
AstraZeneca has offered Harbour up to $175 million in an upfront payment, near-term milestones and option exercise fees. The deal, which features up to $4.4 billion in additional milestones, positions the partners to work on multispecific antibodies in immunology, oncology and beyond. AstraZeneca, which previously licensed a bispecific from Harbour, is investing $105 million in its partner.
AstraZeneca has partnered with Syneron to develop macrocyclic peptides and formed a joint venture with BioKangtai to develop, manufacture and sell vaccines for respiratory and other infectious diseases in China. The BioKangtai collaboration will see AstraZeneca set up its first vaccine manufacturing facility in China.
The partners will build the manufacturing plant in Beijing International Pharmaceutical Innovation Park, a campus that hosts biotechs, research hospitals and China’s National Medical Products Administration. AstraZeneca has also picked the park as the location of its new R&D center.
Beijing will become AstraZeneca’s sixth R&D center globally and second in China, where the company already operates a site in Shanghai. Once operational, the Beijing site will support early-stage research and clinical development.
AstraZeneca said the facility will house “a new state-of-the-art AI and data science laboratory,” following similar moves from its Big Pharma peers that have seen much of the industry doubling down on using AI in its research.
AstraZeneca has already struck up relationships with some of its new neighbors, forming a strategic partnership with Beijing Cancer Hospital in translational research, data science and clinical development.
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