In a bold move to cement its foothold in China’s booming biopharmaceutical sector, AstraZeneca announced Friday a $2.5 billion investment in Beijing over the next five years. The pharmaceutical titan plans to build a global strategic research and development (R&D) center, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and cutting-edge biotechnology to drive medical breakthroughs.
A Strategic Bet on Beijing’s Life Sciences Ecosystem
The new facility—AstraZeneca’s sixth global R&D hub—will focus on early-stage research and clinical development, supported by a state-of-the-art AI and data science laboratory.
“This $2.5 billion investment underscores our confidence in Beijing’s world-class life sciences ecosystem,” said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. “Our sixth strategic R&D center will tap into Beijing’s cutting-edge biology and AI capabilities, accelerating our global mission to bring innovative medicines to patients.”
The center will be strategically located in the Beijing International Pharmaceutical Innovation Park, near leading biotech firms, research hospitals, and China’s National Medical Products Administration. AstraZeneca anticipates that the expansion will increase its Beijing workforce to 1,700 employees.
