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French drugmaker to produce anti-diabetes drug in China

By Yu Hongyan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-04-21 19:02

Sanofi-aventis, Europe's largest pharmaceutical company, announced it will invest $90 million to build pre-filled injection production lines for its basal insulin product in Beijing.

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With an expected capacity of up to 50 million units of the pre-filled insulin injection product, the company said the move will help meet growth demands of the Chinese market and improve the standard of care to combat diabetes here. There are about 40 million diabetics currently in China, according to the International Diabetes Federation.

The French drugmaker also established a new partnership with the Chinese Diabetes Society to initiate a diabetes genotyping project involving more than 46,000 diabetic and non-diabetic patients.

Sanofi-aventis is the first foreign pharmaceutical company to open offices in China, with products covering vaccines and major therapeutic areas.

It currently employs more than 3,300 people in 188 cities across China, and has three manufacturing sites in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen.