Sanofi to build $1 billion insulin production base in China

Sanofi will invest around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to build a new insulin production base in Beijing, its biggest single investment in China to date and part of a broader push to boost capacity in Asia.

The site, Sanofi's second in the Chinese capital and fourth in the country, will focus on meeting the needs of local diabetes patients, the French drugmaker said.

Sanofi is one of the world's top producers of insulin, and the China market for treatment of the illness is huge: Some 140 million people in the mainland, nearly 12% of its population, had the illness as of 2021, according to the company.


The plan comes as Beijing courts foreign firms to ramp up their local presence, a bid to combat a slump in foreign investment. Multinational drugmakers including AstraZeneca and Roche Holding have adopted an "In China, for China" strategy to serve the growing Chinese pharmaceutical market.