Key Summary
- AstraZeneca would invest $15 billion in China through 2030.
- The agreement hands AstraZeneca exclusive global rights outside China for the weight-loss drug.
- AstraZeneca has invested billions of dollars in China during CEO Pascal Soriot's tenure as CEO since 2012.
AstraZeneca announced Friday (30) a deal with the Chinese group CSPC Pharmaceutical Group to help develop and market CSPC's weight-loss injections.
The agreement hands AstraZeneca exclusive global rights outside China for the drugs, according to a joint statement.
CSPC said it stood to earn billions of dollars dependent on sales.
Expensive appetite-suppressing drugs - which include the brands Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro - have exploded in popularity as people seek to lose weight.
Friday's deal came after AstraZeneca said Thursday (29) that it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand the British company's medicines manufacturing and research.
Both deals were announced during a visit to China by British prime minister Keir Starmer.
AstraZeneca said the CSPC deal "strengthens its weight management portfolio through a new strategic collaboration... to advance the development of multiple next-generation therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes across eight programmes".
CSPC will receive an upfront payment of $1.2 billion and could earn up to $3.5 billion more from development and regulatory milestones, the two companies said.
CSPC added in a separate statement that it could receive a further $13.8 billion for sales milestones.
CSPC chairman Cai Dong Chen called it a "win-win collaboration" that would deliver the next generation of weight-loss treatments with the help of artificial intelligence.
Starmer cast the drugmaker's investment as a boost for Britain. "AstraZeneca's expansion and leadership in China will help the British manufacturer continue to grow - supporting thousands of UK jobs," he said in a statement.
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 the second-biggest market after scandals including the arrest of its China president in 2024.
AstraZeneca has invested billions of dollars in China during CEO Pascal Soriot's tenure as CEO since 2012, including $2.5 billion in a Beijing research and development hub in March last year, its second after a Shanghai site opened in 2024.
