AstraZeneca to invest $2.5 billion in Beijing hub as it seeks to move on from China probes

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March 21, 2025
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AstraZeneca to invest .5 billion in Beijing hub as it seeks to move on from China probes

Outside the Macclesfield factory of AstraZeneca.

Christopher Furlong | Getty Images News | Getty Images

AstraZeneca on Friday said that it will invest $2.5 billion in a research and development center in Chinese capital Beijing, as the British pharmaceutical giant seeks to recover from Chinese probes into its import taxes.

The new hub is expected to take AstraZeneca’s Beijing workforce to around 1,700 employees.

The investment in Beijing comes as part of a partnership with the city’s Municipal Government and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area Administrative Office, AstraZeneca said.

Under the deal, AstraZeneca will enter research and development collaborations with biotech firms Harbour BioMed and Syneron Bio and will launch a joint venture with BioKangtai to develop, produce, and market vaccines for respiratory and other infectious diseases.

The partnership with BioKangtai will see the company open its first vaccine manufacturing facility in China.

AstraZeneca’s Beijing research hub will be the second of its kind in China, as the company already has a research and development center in Shanghai. The Beijing center “will partner with the cutting-edge biology and AI science in Beijing and be a critical part of our global efforts to bring innovative medicines to patients worldwide,” CEO Pascal Soriot said in a statement.

Shares of AstraZeneca were down by around 1% at 11:13 a.m. in London.

Chinese probe

Last month, AstraZeneca said it could face a fine from Chinese authorities of up to $4.5 million, in relation to $900,000 million of unpaid import duties.

The company said investigations into these allegations were underway in China in its full-year earnings report out in February.

“To the best of AstraZeneca’s knowledge, the importation taxes referred to in the Appraisal Opinion relate to [cancer medications] Imfinzi and Imjudo,” the company said at the time. “A fine of between one and five times the amount of unpaid importation taxes may also be levied if AstraZeneca is found liable. AstraZeneca continues to fully cooperate with the Chinese authorities.