The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (Beijing E-Town) Management Committee and Sanofi signed a cooperation memorandum on Dec 2.

Sanofi will invest approximately 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to establish a new insulin production facility in Beijing E-Town to provide the medication for local diabetes patients. This will be Sanofi's fourth production and supply base in China and will be the company's largest single investment in China.

"We are delighted to announce this investment on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. Sanofi is confident in the long-term development of the Chinese market. The open-door policies and encouragement of innovation upheld by the Chinese government, along with the favorable business environment created for foreign enterprises, have provided Sanofi with strong confidence to deeply engage in China's economic development and contribute to the high-quality development of the pharmaceutical industry," said Frédéric Oudéa, chairman of Sanofi's Board of Directors.

Sanofi's production facility in Beijing E-Town, which has a history of nearly 30 years of development, has become the company’s largest insulin production base in the Asia-Pacific region. Its products cover various medical fields, including diabetes, cardiovascular, internal medicine and oncology.

The newly established insulin production facility will be the first in which a multinational pharmaceutical company has set up domestic production of biopharmaceutical raw materials. Once completed, the facility will primarily produce the active ingredients of insulin biopharmaceuticals, supplying biopharmaceutical raw materials for Sanofi's existing insulin making products at the Beijing factory.