AstraZeneca to build cell therapy base, innovation centre in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, March 19 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca said on Thursday it would build a cell therapy manufacturing and supply base and an innovation centre in Shanghai, aiming to become the first global drugmaker with end-to-end cell therapy capabilities in China.

The cell therapy facility will make and supply CAR‑T cell therapies for China and other Asian markets, the British drugmaker said on its Chinese social media account.

CAR-T therapies modify a patient’s immune cells to recognise a specific target and destroy cancer cells.

The cell therapy investment is part of AstraZeneca’s plan unveiled in January to invest $15 billion in China through 2030, a spokesperson told Reuters, but declined to specify its value.

On Thursday the company also said it planned to build a production and supply base for radioconjugate drugs in the southern city of Guangzhou, to provide cancer treatments in China and the Asia-Pacific, the state-run Securities Times said.

Even as AstraZeneca invests heavily in the United States, led by a $50-billion manufacturing deal last year, it continues to build its business in its second-biggest market after scandals such as the 2024 arrest of its China president.

AstraZeneca has invested billions of dollars in China during Chief Executive Pascal Soriot’s tenure since 2012, including $2.5 billion in a Beijing hub in March last year, its second after one opened in Shanghai in 2024.

(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Tom Hogue, Janane Venkatraman and Clarence Fernandez)