(Yicai) March 7 -- Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will invest USD475 million to build a small molecule drug factory in eastern China's Wuxi, the location of its first China plant.

The maker of cancer and diabetes medicine signed an investment agreement with the management committee of the Wuxi National High-Tech District, the London-headquartered firm announced recently.

The company expects to manufacture and package certain small molecule drugs sold in China at the factory and even sell them abroad. Small molecule drugs are a common type of synthetic medicine such as paracetamol that is easier to produce than biologics which are extracted from living organisms.

The British pharmaceutical company has formed production bases in Taizhou and Qingdao after investing USD134 million to build its first factory in China in Wuxi in 2001. In 2016, the firm opened its China Logistics Center in the same city.

Editor: Emmi Laine