Following through with its sizable investment commitment in China, AstraZeneca on Thursday unveiled plans to build a commercial cell therapy manufacturing base and an innovation center dedicated to the modality in Shanghai.
The move positions the British drugmaker as the first multinational pharmaceutical company to boast end-to-end cell therapy capabilities in China, spanning early-stage research to large-scale commercial production, AZ said in an announcement (Chinese).
These new facilities follow a $15 billion investment pledge in China that AZ outlined at the beginning of the year during CEO Pascal Soriot’s visit to the country alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. At that time, AZ highlighted enhancements of its cell therapy and radioconjugate capabilities, new manufacturing facilities and an expanded R&D footprint among its goals. The investment pledge runs through 2030.
The new production hub, to be located in the Lin-gang Special Area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, will supply autologous CAR-T therapies to China and other Asian markets. These include AZD0120, the BCMA and CD19 dual-targeting CAR-T that AZ obtained as part of its $1 billion acquisition of Gracell Biotechnologies.
Complementing the manufacturing facility, a new R&D center in the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park will focus on early research, development of viral vector and plasmid constructs, analytical testing, clinical batch production and registration support.
“As one of China’s leading biopharmaceutical hubs, Shanghai has established a robust pathway from foundational research and R&D translation to advanced manufacturing, fostering a vibrant innovation ecosystem,” AZ’s executive vice president of international, Iskra Reic, said in a March 19 release.
AZ is doubling down on CAR-T in China after the country recently included several CAR-T products in its first government-led formulary that recommends certain high-cost innovative drugs for commercial insurance. While not part of the state-funded national insurance scheme, the new reimbursement list is expected to facilitate broader commercial coverage of costly but high-clinical-value treatments such as CAR-Ts.
Separately on Thursday, AZ said it will build another factory in the Chinese city of Guangzhou for radioconjugates. The site is expected to produce a radiopharmaceutical based on actinium-225 for the treatment of prostate cancer, according to the company.
In 2024, AZ bought Fusion Pharmaceuticals along with its PSMA-directed radioconjugate using an actinium-225 payload. The drug is expected to report phase 2 data in previously treated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer this year.
Together with the Shanghai cell therapy site, the Guangzhou facility will further enhance AZ’s local production capabilities in novel therapeutics, serving as a key pillar as the company expands and diversifies its global supply chain network, AZ said in a release (Chinese).
Alongside the revelation of the new sites, AZ announced it will work with partners to launch a new life sciences collaboration program between Shanghai and the U.K. This initiative will “drive joint research, commercialization and business development, ensuring that innovations originating from both the U.K. and Shanghai benefit patients worldwide,” Reic added.
As part of the project, AZ has signed a multiparty memorandum of understanding with the Shanghai municipal government’s Science and Technology Commission, the University of Glasgow, King’s College London and HSBC.
The latest developments mark a continuation of AZ’s deep involvement in China. With nearly $6.7 billion in local revenue in 2025, AZ is the largest foreign pharma in China, where the company already operates two global R&D centers—in Beijing and Shanghai—as well as four manufacturing bases.
“I’m absolutely convinced we need to be in China to collaborate with, partner with Chinese companies, but also to compete and learn,” Soriot said on AZ’s fourth-quarter earnings call last month. “[We need to] learn to compete with them and how they compete, not only commercially, but mostly from an R&D perspective, because the world has changed, and they are increasingly becoming a fundamental part of innovation in our industry. And some of them, at some point, will become global companies.”
AZ has frequently bought into innovation developed in China. Its Gracell deal, unveiled in 2023, was the first full acquisition of a Chinese biotech by a multinational pharma.
In another CAR-T move, AZ recently penned a potential $630 million deal to obtain AbelZeta Pharma’s 50% share of the China rights to an autologous GPC3-targeting CAR-T therapy. Through a 2023 pact, AZ already owns ex-China rights and the other 50% of the China rights.
More broadly, AZ in December fronted $100 million and promised up to $1.91 billion in milestones to acquire ex-China rights to Jacobio Pharma’s pan-KRAS inhibitor. The British pharma then made headlines again in January by signing a massive obesity-focused deal with China’s CSPC Pharmaceuticals that could potentially worth $18.5 billion.
Editor's Note: The story was updated at 8 a.m. ET, March 20, to include information about a separate Guangzhou facility.