The world leading pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca plans to make an additional investment of 300 million yuan (37.5 million U.S. dollars) in the next five years to expand its production capacity and upgrade production technology in China.

According to the company, a new drug packaging production line, involving an investment of 31 million yuan, went into production a couple of days ago in Wuxi, a booming city near Shanghai.

The new facility expands AstraZeneca's drug packaging capacity in Wuxi to 40 million boxes, the company said.

Headquartered in London, AstraZeneca has 11 research and development centers and 27 production bases worldwide, and its 2005 sales value exceeded 23.9 billion U.S. dollars.

The company's China headquarters is located in Shanghai. Its Wuxi factory, with an investment of 1 billion yuan (125 million US dollars), started operation in 2001.

The Wuxi plant is the company's sole production base in China and also its largest production base in Asia.

The company expects its 2008 China output to double that of 2005, with sales reaching 8 billion yuan (1 billion US dollars).

Source: Xinhua