AstraZeneca takes spending on novel China projects to around $8bn
While competitors and big UK businesses in general fight shy of the Chinese market, AstraZeneca unveiled an AI-assisted research partnership with CSPC Pharmaceuticals worth up to $5.3 billion to tackle chronic diseases. CSPC is headquartered in China's Hebei Province.
AstraZeneca, whose own expanding HQ is at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, only recently revealed plans to invest $2.5bn in a new research flagship in Beijing. That could mean an additional 1,700 people employed in the territory by AstraZeneca.
On the latest investment, AstraZeneca executive VP Sharon Barr commented: "This strategic research collaboration underscores our commitment to innovation to tackle chronic diseases which impact over two billion people globally."
Under the new collaboration agreement CSPC will carry out research in Shijiazhuang deploying its AI-driven, dual-engine efficient drug discovery platform."
AstraZeneca says of the new collaboration that CSPC will receive $110 million, plus up to $1.62 billion in "potential development milestone payments" and up to a further $3.6 billion in sales milestone payments, together with annual sales-based royalties.
For its part, AstraZeneca will be able to exercise options for exclusive licences to develop and commercialise worldwide candidates identified under the deal.
Business Weekly believes that the market's should be alert for potential TechBio plays featuring AstraZeneca and fellow Cambridge UK company Arm, the superchip architect. As we recently reported, Arm CEO has been appointed as a Non Executive Director at AstraZeneca and cemented the appointment with a personal appearance at AZ's HQ.
AstraZeneca's UK chairman Shaun Grady welcomed life science executives and other guests involved in collaborations with the company to its now annual 'Exchange' celebration at the Biomedical Campus last week. Showing exemplary timing, he welcomed guests by banging a Chinese gong!
The company has broadened the reach of the Cluster's biomedical sector with a huge number of initiatives bringing together all the region's key players in academia, science, property, the media and other sectors for various joint programmes.
He felt the event 'captured our place and role in the Cambridge community perfectly,' adding: 'We are lucky to be here and it makes all the hard work worthwhile.'
