AstraZeneca has announced an investment of $2.5 billion in Beijing to establish its sixth global strategic R&D center and has also announced research and manufacturing agreements that will further advance the company’s position in China.

The investment over the next five years is part of a strategic partnership with the Beijing Municipal Government and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area Administrative Office and includes agreements with three biotechs: Harbour BioMed, Syneron Bio, and BioKangtai. AstraZeneca expects its Beijing workforce to grow to 1,700 employees.

The company’s new global strategic R&D center in Beijing will be its second in China, following its Shanghai R&D center. The center in Beijing will advance early-stage research and clinical development and will be enabled by a new AI and data-science laboratory. The new R&D center will be located near biotech companies, research hospitals, and the National Medical Products Administration in the Beijing International Pharmaceutical Innovation Park (Beijing BioPark)

Further partnerships in China
Alongside this, AstraZeneca is establishing new R&D collaborations in Beijing. This includes a strategic partnership with the Beijing Cancer Hospital in translational research, data science, and clinical development. Also, AstraZeneca has formed a collaboration and licensing agreement with Harbour BioMed, a Beijing-based bio/pharmaceutical company, to discover multi-specific antibodies for immunology, oncology, and other areas. The collaboration includes an option to license multiple programs utilizing Harbour BioMed’s proprietary Harbour Mice fully human antibody technology platform in multiple therapeutic areas and a $105-million equity investment (9.15% stake) by AstraZeneca in Harbour BioMed.

Under the agreements, AstraZeneca will obtain the option to license two preclinical immunology programs and will nominate further targets for Harbour BioMed to discover multi-specific antibodies. AstraZeneca will have the option to license these programs for advancement into clinical development. The initial phase of the collaboration will focus on ongoing research programs, with the potential for additional programs. In return, Harbour BioMed will receive an upfront payment, near-term milestone payments, and option exercise fees for additional programs, totaling $175 million, as well as up to $4.4 billion in additional development and commercial milestone payments, along with tiered royalties on future net sales. Additionally, the parties have the option to include additional programs into the collaboration over the next five years, with the option to extend the terms of the agreement for an additional five years upon mutual agreement. To support the collaboration programs and other joint initiatives between the two parties, Harbour BioMed will establish an innovation center in Beijing, China, to be co-located with AstraZeneca.

In addition, AstraZeneca is launching a new joint venture with BioKangtai, a China-based biopharmaceutical company, to develop, manufacture, and commercialize innovative vaccines for respiratory and other infectious diseases for patients in China and globally. This will be AstraZeneca’s first and only vaccine manufacturing facility in China, which will be in the Beijing BioPark.

Also, earlier this month (March 2024), AstraZeneca formed a strategic collaboration with Syneron Bio, a Beijing-based bio/pharmaceutical company specializing in oral macrocyclic peptide drugs, to develop macrocyclic peptides for the treatment of chronic diseases, in a deal worth up to $3.5 billion ($75 million in upfront payments and near-term milestones, up to $3.4 billion in additional development and commercial milestones, and an undisclosed equity investment by AstraZeneca in Syneron Bio). Under the collaboration, AstraZeneca will gain access to Syneron Bio’s proprietary high-throughput macrocyclic peptide drug research and development platform, Synova, designed to support the advancements of research programs for chronic diseases, including rare, autoimmune, and metabolic diseases. As a result of this collaboration, Syneron Bio plans to expand its Beijing R&D center.

Separately, in February (February 2025), AstraZeneca announced that it had agreed to acquire the Chinese subsidiary of FibroGen, a San Franciso, California-based bio/pharmaceutical company, for $160 million. Upon closing, which is expected in mid-2025, AstraZeneca will obtain all rights in China to roxadustat, a drug for treating anemia in chronic kidney disease with a pending regulatory decision for chemotherapy-induced anemia. Under the agreement, FibroGen will receive an enterprise value of $85 million plus FibroGen net cash held in China at closing, currently estimated to be approximately $75 million, totaling approximately $160 million. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2025, pending customary closing conditions, including regulatory review in China.

Source: AstraZeneca