Pharmacia Chinese Pharma Investments

Pharmacia of Sweden (which is now merging with Upjohn; Marketletters passim) is the latest pharmaceutical company to announce investment plans for China. The company revealed that it plans to put some $70 million into its joint ventures there over the next three years which, with its Upjohn link, will push it into the top three position in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry, which is said to be expanding at over 20% a year.

According to Pharmacia president Jan Ekberg, the company intends to invest some $6 million in Sino-Swed Pharmaceutical Corp, of which it became the majority owner (51%) earlier this year, and a further $50 million in the affiliate's Wuxi facility to produce oncology products for the Chinese market.