BEIJING, Dec. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has once again boosted its investment in Beijing E-Town. On December 2nd, the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA) and Sanofi formally signed a memorandum of cooperation. Sanofi will invest approximately 1 billion euros to establish a new insulin production facility in Beijing E-Town, enhancing local end-to-end manufacturing capabilities for insulin and primarily serving the needs of Chinese patients with diabetes. This marks Sanofi's fourth production and supply base in China and represents the company's largest single investment in the country.
"We are delighted to announce this investment during the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France. Sanofi is confident in the long-term development potential of the Chinese market. The Chinese government's policies promoting opening up and innovation, as well as the excellent business environment it fosters for foreign enterprises, have injected strong confidence into Sanofi's deep participation in China's economic development and support for high-quality growth in the pharmaceutical industry," said Frédéric Oudéa, Chairman of the Board at Sanofi.
Over the years, Sanofi has continuously expanded its investments in manufacturing within China, building a world-class production and supply network. Since establishing an office in China in 1982, Sanofi now operates 12 diverse offices, three production sites, and four R&D centers, with diversified operations covering pharmaceuticals, human vaccines, and consumer healthcare. Among these, the Beijing site located in E-Town has developed over nearly 30 years into Sanofi's largest insulin injection production base in the Asia-Pacific region, with products spanning multiple therapeutic areas including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, internal medicine, and oncology.
This newly established insulin production facility marks the first time an international pharmaceutical company has set up biotherapeutic active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) production in China. Upon completion, it will mainly produce biopharmaceutical active substances for insulin, supplying biological raw materials for existing insulin formulations produced by Sanofi's Beijing factory. Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson stated: "The new production facility adopts high-standard automated production, top-tier digital integrated management, and sustainable environmental standards to ensure outstanding production levels. This will further help us strengthen our supply chain resilience and more efficiently meet the growing demand from local patients with diabetes. We will also continue to deepen our industrial chain layout in China and upgrade innovative medical solutions, constantly enhancing the depth and breadth of medical services."
Since the official establishment of the Sanofi Beijing production base in E-Town in 1995, through continuous capital increases totaling 700 million yuan between 2020 and 2023 to expand new insulin formulation production lines (such as Toujeo® and Soliqua® projects), and now with the construction of this new insulin production facility, Sanofi's increased investment and expansion reflect its recognition of Beijing's and E-Town's industrial ecosystem and confidence in future development prospects.
The medical and health industry is one of the 'two engines' driving Beijing's innovative development. This year, Beijing has implemented the third round of accelerated medical health co-innovation action plans, introducing 32 measures to support innovative drug development, providing a superior development environment for multinational pharmaceutical companies to land and increase their investments. As the only national-level economic and technological development area in the capital, BDA focuses on enhancing international competitiveness in the biopharmaceutical field and improving healthcare standards, establishing a "1+N" policy system targeting the biopharmaceutical industry, supporting the clustering of six major centers of the National Medical Products Administration, accelerating the planning and construction of Beijing's Biomedical Innovation Park (BioPark), refining and optimizing enterprise services, cultivating new drivers for industrial development, and currently gathering nearly 5,000 biopharmaceutical companies across various fields, accounting for roughly half of Beijing's biopharmaceutical industry output value.
"To attract more multinational pharmaceutical companies to set up in E-Town, we use international events such as the Boao Forum for Asia Global Health Forum and the International Biopharmaceutical Industry Innovation Beijing Forum as 'windows,' transforming industrial advantages into opportunities for cooperation, engaging in face-to-face communication with companies, and laying a solid foundation for subsequent collaborations," said relevant officials from the BDA.
Recently, leading global pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and Company and Pfizer have successively announced the establishment of new R&D innovation institutions in E-Town. BDA will continue to create an optimized business environment model, fostering an open and inclusive industrial ecology, supporting multinational pharmaceutical companies in choosing Beijing and investing in E-Town, jointly drawing a new blueprint for the development of the medical and health industries.
Source: The Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA)
