AstraZeneca’s strategy to increase its revenues in the US is accompanied by select investments in China on an R&D and manufacturing basis, with the latest, plans for a biomanufacturing JV.

By Patricia Van Arnum, Editorial Director, DCAT, [email protected]

US and China: strategic focus
While the US is the primary focus of AstraZeneca’s growth strategy, the company is also targeting China for selective growth. The US is a large part of the company’s goal to reach overall annual revenues of $80 billion by 2030 as evidenced by its $50-billion multi-year US investments in research and development (R&D) and manufacturing, but the company is also selectively building its presence in China,

China is part of the company’s strategic focus, and in January (January 2026), AstraZeneca announced a $15-billion investment in China through 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and R&D. China is AstraZeneca’s second-largest market and a strategic hub for global innovation, home to two global R&D centers for the company (Beijing and Shanghai) that have led 20 global clinical trials to-date (as of January 2026), four manufacturing sites (Wuxi, Taizhou, Qingdao, and Beijing), which supply medicines to over 70 markets globally and domestically in China, and commercial operations across five regional hubs.

Building on that plan and as part of a partnership with CSPC Pharmaceutical, a Shijiazhuang, China-based bio/pharmaceutical company, CSPC Pharmaceutica announced this week (August 3, 2026) that it and AstraZeneca are forming a joint venture for the construction of a new biologics drug-substance manufacturing facility in Shijiazhuang, China, where CSPC Pharmaceutical is headquartered. The joint venture will be owned 51% by CSPC and 49% by AstraZeneca, and the companies will jointly manage the construction and day-to-day operations of the joint venture. The initial business scope of the joint venture will focus on the manufacturing and supply of mutually agreed biologics drug substances for global markets. As the business develops, production capacity scales up, and commercial demand grows, both parties will further explore incorporating additional products into the joint venture’s scope of operations in the future. The joint venture contract remains subject to customary closing conditions, including obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals.

The manufacturing joint venture builds on the companies’ drug-development partnerships. Earlier this year (January 2026), AstraZeneca announced a $4.7-billion deal ($1.2 billion upfront and $3.5 billion in milestone payments) with CSPC Pharmaceuticals for eight programs in obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The companies will initially progress four programs, which use CSPC’s AI peptide drug-discovery platform and its proprietary LiquidGel once-monthly dosing platform technology. Under the deal, which is slated to close in the second quarter of 2026, CSPC will receive an upfront payment of $1.2 billion from AstraZeneca and is also eligible to receive development and regulatory milestones of up to $3.5 billion across all programs and will also be eligible for further commercialization and sales milestones plus tiered royalties.

Last year (June 2025), AstraZeneca and CSPC Pharmaceuticals inked a $5.3-billion deal to discover and develop preclinical candidates for multiple targets across chronic disease indications, including a preclinical small-molecule oral therapy for immunological diseases. Under the deal, CSPC received an upfront payment of $110 million and is also eligible to receive up to $1.62 billion in potential development milestone payments and up to $3.6 billion in sales milestone payments, plus potential single digit royalties based on annual net sales of the products. The companies also partnered in 2024 in a nearly $2.0-billion deal ($100 million upfront and $1.92 billion in milestone payments) for a preclinical small-molecule lipoprotein for treating dyslipidemia (high cholesterol).

AstraZeneca also recently formed other partnerships in China. In June (June 2026), AstraZeneca and Sino Biopharmaceutical, a Hong Kong-based bio/pharmaceutical company, entered into an exclusive license agreement for the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of Sino Biopharmaceutical’s PDE3/4 inhibitor, TQC3721, a respiratory drug, in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion ($200 million upfront and $1.9 billion in milestone payments). Under the agreement, Sino Biopharmaceutical, will grant AstraZeneca an exclusive license to develop, manufacture, and commercialize TQC3721 outside China. AstraZeneca also gains exclusive global rights for certain future development programs. Sino Biopharmaceutical is eligible to receive an upfront payment of $200 million, with additional development, regulatory, and sales milestones, totaling up to $1.9 billion, as well as tiered royalties ranging up to double-digit percentages based on the annual net sales of TQC3721 products. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances.

Also, earlier this month (July 2026), AstraZeneca entered an exclusive license agreement with Dizal Pharmaceutical, a Shanghai-based bio/pharmaceutical company, for Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib), an oral irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor for patients with lung cancer, in a deal worth up to $1.5 billion ($600 million upfront and $900 million in milestone payments). AstraZeneca will acquire worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Zegfrovy. Zegfrovy is approved in the US and China for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations, whose disease has progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. AstraZeneca will make an upfront payment to Dizal of $600 million and additional payments of up to $900 million upon achievement of specific development,.

US remains main strategic focus
Overall, however, the US is the prime focus for AstraZeneca as it proceeds with a $50-billion multi-year investment to increase its R&D and manufacturing presence in the US.

Late last year (2025), AstraZeneca announced plans to invest $2 billion to expand its manufacturing footprint in Maryland. This includes an expansion of its flagship biologics manufacturing facility in Frederick and the construction of a new facility in Gaithersburg for the development and clinical supply of innovative molecules. These expansions are the next step in AstraZeneca’s previously announced $50-billion investment in the US in R&D and manufacturing, which was announced in July 2025. 

The Frederick facility currently produces biologics in AstraZeneca’s portfolio of cancer, autoimmune, respiratory, and rare-disease treatments. The planned expansion will nearly double commercial manufacturing capacity to enable increased supply of existing medicines and production across the company’s rare-disease portfolio. The expansion is expected to be operational in 2029. Additionally, AstraZeneca will build a new clinical-scale manufacturing facility to expand its footprint in Gaithersburg, expected to be fully operational by 2029.

In addition to the expansions in Maryland, the $50-billion investment across the company’s R&D and manufacturing footprint in the US also includes:  

• A new R&D center in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts;  
• A new active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility in Charlottesville, Virginia;
• Manufacturing facilities for cell therapies in Rockville, Maryland, and Tarzana, California;  
• Continuous manufacturing expansion in Mount Vernon, Indiana;   
• A specialty manufacturing expansion in Coppell, Texas;  
• New sites to supply clinical trials; and   
• Growing research and development investment.

Of the above investments, AstraZeneca had announced investments in Virginia and Texas. The Charlottesville, Virginia, facility, with an investment of $4.5 billion, will produce drug substances for AstraZeneca’s weight-management and metabolic portfolio, including an oral GLP-1, baxdrostat, oral PCSK9 products, and combination small-molecule products. The company is also expanding the scope of products to include the company’s antibody drug conjugate cancer portfolio. The Texas facility expansion, with an investment of $445 million, will double the production of Lokelma (sodium zirconium cyclosilicate), a drug for treating hyperkalemia (high levels of potassium in the blood).