AstraZeneca sets out $15 billion China investment during Starmer visit

UK drugmaker AstraZeneca AZN.L said on Thursday it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development, an announcement made during British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Beijing.

The announcement marks the biggest deal so far during the trip, as Britain seeks to strengthen ties with Beijing at a time of strained relations with Washington.

Starmer cast the drugmaker's investment as a boost for Britain, in remarks in an AstraZeneca press release.

"AstraZeneca's expansion and leadership in China will help the British manufacturer continue to grow - supporting thousands of UK jobs," he said.

Even as AstraZeneca invests heavily in the United States, led by a $50 billion manufacturing deal last year, it continues to builds its business in the second-biggest market after scandals including the arrest of its China president in 2024.

Soriot said it was the company's largest ever investment in China, where it has operated for more than 30 years.

AstraZeneca has invested billions of dollars in China during Soriot's tenure as CEO since 2012, including $2.5 billion in a Beijing research and development hub in March last year, its second in China after a Shanghai site opened in 2024.

China's growing role as a source of new drug assets has become a focus for the industry, executives said at the JPMorgan Healthcare conference earlier this month.

AstraZeneca has signed more than a dozen deals with Chinese biotech firms developing early-stage experimental drug candidates.

AstraZeneca's chief financial officer Aradhana Sarin said in November that growth in China has been "strong throughout the year".

Some rival drugmakers have sold off Chinese assets following supply chain disruptions, economic slowdown, and strong competition in the country's centralized drug procurement programme.

-Andrew MacAskill and Maggie Fick/Reuterss