CBI member, AstraZeneca has announced that it is launching a new fund with China International Capital Corporation to invest $1 billion in China’s healthcare sector, predominantly to fund research and development.
According to AstraZeneca CEO, Pascal Soriot, the fund will look to invest in Chinese firms, with companies involved in a life-sciences park AstraZeneca helped to open in the city of Wuxi last year, to be among the first to be brought into partnership. AstraZeneca will be a minority partner in the fund, and will mainly play an advisory role in selecting investments and supporting firms.
Mr. Soriot said: “[AstraZeneca] can help by choosing some of those investments [and] we can also help along the way with start-up companies, developing products and helping them find their way around the world. […] it is a substantial investment on our side, but also for our financial partners.”
The company reportedly also plans to expand an existing research and development centre in Shanghai from 450 employees to 1,000 and to establish a new artificial intelligence innovation centre in the city.
AstraZeneca is performing particularly well in China, where sales have doubled since 2012 and foreign drugs manufacturers have witnessed a softening regulatory environment for pharmaceutical firms.
Mr. Soriot said that AstraZeneca wanted to start making drugs it could export globally from China, with areas of opportunity having been identified in oncology and respiratory diseases. “Historically, until today, [AstraZeneca’s] Chinese team has been developing global products for the Chinese market. We now want the Chinese team to take the global leadership on some projects,” he said.
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