Overview
As the largest multinational pharmaceutical company in the prescription market in China, AstraZeneca China has its headquarters in Shanghai, with 23 branch offices in major cities across China mainland, as well as one office in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It has over 3,500 employees working in manufacturing, sales, clinical research and new product development. AstraZeneca is committed to being "In China, For China; In China, For Global" with long-term planning and investment. In 2001, the company established its largest manufacturing site in Asia with an initial investment of $134 million. In April 2006, AstraZeneca announced a further investment of $35 million to increase capacity. 2008, AstraZeneca announced to invest additional $50 million in Wuxi Site for Global Formulation and establishment of Regional Packing Centre and High-Tech Receiving Centre.
In May 2006, AstraZeneca announced that it would invest $100 million to establish its R&D base, the AstraZeneca Innovation Center China (ICC) in Shanghai. ICC puts its focus on Translational Science. Partnering with major hospitals and medical research ICC aims to fully support the development of China’s indigenous innovation. ICC’s initial therapeutic area is cancer.
AstraZeneca China Mission
³ AstraZeneca's mission is to develop, supply and market innovative drugs of high quality within our prioritized therapeutic areas in China.
³ We are determined to conduct our business responsibly, strengthen our long-term commitment to China and become a partner of Choice.
Importance of China
Fast-developing economies such as China continue to offer new opportunities for the industry to gain access to an expanding number of patients who can benefit from medicines.
Pharmaceutical companies that are able to make efficient investment decisions, fully utilise their intellectual property and manage relationships with their stakeholders should be well positioned to benefit from the demand for healthcare and the new opportunities for the industry.
Being one of the most important emerging markets, China is projected to be the 3rd largest world economy, and amongst the top 3 pharmaceutical markets in the world with sales of around $43 billion by 2012.
Growth in China
In China, the growth and expansion strategy has continued to build our presence and sales (excluding Hong Kong) achieved outstanding performance. AstraZeneca is the largest multinational pharmaceutical company in the prescription market in China.
Our investments in China increased with the opening of an innovation discovery research centre in Shanghai 2007 and the announcement of several external collaborations, including a new clinical pharmacology unit in Peking University and a translational science laboratory in Guangdong Province People’s Hospital.
In 2008, 11 brands of AZ China won No.1 market share in its class. These No.1 brands included Nexium Oral, , Losec IV, Betaloc, Pulmicort Resp, Rhinocort Aqua, Diprivan, Naropin, Iressa, Arimidex, Casodex, Zoladex.
