News of the joint venture comes months after AstraZeneca vowed to spend $15 billion in China by the end of the decade.
AstraZeneca and CSPC Pharmaceutical have formed a joint venture to build a biologics manufacturing plant in China. The new deal adds to multiple deals already struck between the two companies and is part of AstraZeneca’s broader, long-running interest in China.
In January, the drugmaker committed to spending $15 billion in the country by the end of the decade.
Under the terms of the new collaboration, CSPC and AstraZeneca will contribute capital at an equity ratio of 51% and 49%, respectively, to finance construction of the site in Shijiazhuang, China. The city, which is 165 miles southwest of Beijing, is home to CSPC’s headquarters.
CSPC and AstraZeneca will jointly manage the site’s construction and day-to-day operations, leveraging their respective expertise. AstraZeneca is bringing its global quality system and supply management experience to the project, while CSPC highlighted its experience in building “highly automated, intelligent and lean manufacturing facilities.”
The partners will focus initially on manufacturing and supplying mutually agreed, undisclosed biologic drug substances for global markets. CSPC and AstraZeneca plan to explore adding more products to the facility’s scope of operations as the business develops, production capacity scales up and commercial demand grows.
Working with AstraZeneca will support the creation of high-quality manufacturing capabilities that meet the demands of the international market, CSPC said. The Chinese drugmaker framed the partnership as a way to enhance its ability to serve global markets and lay the foundations for launching more products overseas.
The partnership adds another element to AstraZeneca’s multifaceted relationship with CSPC. In 2024, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker paid CSPC $100 million upfront for rights to a preclinical lipid-lowering drug candidate.
Since then, AstraZeneca has returned to CSPC repeatedly to build out its R&D pipeline. Having paid CSPC $110 million to form an AI drug development pact in 2025, AstraZeneca has upped the pace in 2026 by paying $1.2 billion upfront for a GLP-1/GIP prospect and handing over $30 million to start collaborating on kidney diseases.
Beyond R&D, AstraZeneca is turning to China to up its manufacturing presence. In addition to funding to the new CSPC-partnered facility, part of AstraZeneca’s promised $15 billion investment in China will go toward developing its existing production plants in China, including those in Wuxi, Taizhou and Beijing.
AstraZeneca also bolstered its manufacturing presence in Beijing last year through an alliance with BioKangtai to set up its first vaccine manufacturing facility in the country. Months later, AstraZeneca outlined plans to invest an additional $136 million in a plant in Qingdao that makes inhaled medicines.
Moreover, AstraZeneca in March shared details of a cell therapy manufacturing center it is building in Shanghai. The facility is intended to establish AstraZeneca as the first Western drugmaker with end-to-end cell therapy capabilities in China.
