(Yicai) Aug. 15 -- AstraZeneca will invest an additional USD250 million in its asthma inhaler factory in Qingdao, eastern Shandong province as the British-Swedish drugs giant remains upbeat about the country’s growth prospects.

The extra investment will bring the total in the factory, which will produce its Budesonide, Glycopyrronium Bromide and Formoterol Fumarate inhalers for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as asthma, to USD700 million, AstraZeneca said yesterday. The firm first announced it was linking arms with the Qingdao municipal government to build this plant in March.

AstraZeneca will make the most of Shandong province’s regional advantages to enhance investment and build a world-class sustainable supply system, in order to bring the benefits of innovative drugs to more patients as well as to help boost the development of China’s healthcare industry, said Pam Cheng, executive vice president of global operations and information technology at AstraZeneca .

In recent years, the Cambridge-based firm has forged close ties with the Qingdao municipal government and is teaming up with it on innovative ecology, innovative industrial parks as well as industry funds.

AstraZeneca’s Budesonide inhaler, which first entered the China market in 2001, once accounted for over 90 percent of the market in China and in 2020 its sales amounted to CNY6 billion (USD827 million).

However, in 2021, the inhaler was not selected to be part of China’s centralized drug procurement scheme, which resulted in it not gaining access to the country’s vast medical insurance system. To deal with this blow, AstraZeneca has been bringing more products into China and is trying to have them included in the medical insurance scheme by greatly lowering their prices.

AstraZeneca, which focuses on tumors, rare diseases as well as cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, respiratory and immune disorders, has been gradually transforming from a drugmaker to a platform-like enterprise.

Editor: Kim Taylor