Britain’s largest drugmaker is continuing its push into the Chinese market. AstraZeneca on Tuesday said it would buy a Chinese cancer therapy company for $1.2 billion. The cash deal is set to close in 2024.
The Chinese company focuses on cell therapies for cancer. A space currently dominated by other big players, such as Gilead Sciences and Novartis.
China is the second largest market for AstraZeneca, right after the United States, over ten percent of its revenue last year came from China.
The deal marks one of AstraZeneca’s first acquisitions in China. In the past, it has mainly been signing licensing deals for drugs.
It also made a deal with a Chinese biotech firm to develop a weight-loss pill this November.