AstraZeneca to buy Chinese generics manufacturer
Gives firm access to injectable antibiotics portfolio
AstraZeneca has announced a further push into China with the purchase of Guangdong BeiKang Pharmaceutical Company, a privately owned generics manufacturer based in Conghua City, Guangdong province for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will give AstraZeneca access to a portfolio of injectable antibiotics that it will make available to patients in China.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal comes on the heels of AstraZeneca’s US$200m investment in a new manufacturing facility, located in China Medical City, Taizhou, Jiangsu province. It will produce intravenous and oral solid medicines from the end of 2013.
Mark Mallon, president of AstraZeneca’s Asia-Pacific region, said: ‘AstraZeneca continues to invest in the key emerging markets such as China where the combination of growing populations, elevated levels of chronic diseases and increasing income are driving demand and expectations for better healthcare treatment.
‘Our new acquisition further underscores our intention to serve the health needs of Chinese patients through our innovative medicines and, increasingly, high quality branded generic treatments that are locally produced to global standards.’
The Chinese pharmaceutical market grew from $10bn in 2004 to $41bn in 2010 and, according to IMS Health, is expected to grow to more than $100bn by 2015.
Since first establishing a presence in China in 1993, AstraZeneca has invested around $500m in the region.
