(Yicai) June 18 -- Gracell Biotechnologies, a Chinese firm AstraZeneca acquired earlier this year, plans to expand its production facility in the city of Suzhou to increase output of cell therapy drugs.

The 9,000-square-meter expansion of the facility in BioBay, a life sciences cluster, is expected to start construction this year and be completed by the end of next year, Shanghai-based Gracell said via its official WeChat account on June 14.

AstraZeneca announced last December that the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker would acquire Gracell for about USD1.2 billion. The purchase was completed in February, and Gracell was delisted from the Nasdaq.

“The proposed acquisition of Gracell will complement AstraZeneca’s existing capabilities and previous investments in cell therapy,” Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology research and development at Cambridge-based AstraZeneca, said in December.

The firm said it would “enrich AstraZeneca’s growing pipeline of cell therapies with GC012F, a novel, clinical-stage FasTCAR-enabled BCMA and CD19 dual-targeting autologous chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, a potential new treatment for multiple myeloma, as well as other haematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).”

AstraZeneca entered China in the 1990s. It has established a significant presence in the country, reflecting the company’s strategic focus on expanding its footprint in one of the world's largest and fastest-growing healthcare markets.

Editor: Futura Costaglione