TIANJIN, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda will invest 110 million yuan (16.4 million U.S. dollars) to extend its plant in Tianjin Municipality, the company has announced.
The extention involves building new warehouses, supplementary workshops and public facilities, bringing in advanced equipment, and replanning layouts of laboratories.
Takeda expects to promote supply service and optimize logistics costs when the construction work is done, as well as to promote good manufacturing practices (GMP) management.
Takeda's Tianjin plant, its only production base in China, will have a total building area of 22,878 square meters after expansion and will be one of the pharma's major production bases globally.
Ricardo Marek, president of Growth & Emerging Markets Business Unit at Takeda, said the company is very supportive to China's recent policies that deepen healthcare reform and encourage innovation.
More than 10 innovative new medicines will be provided to Chinese patients in the future, he added.
Takeda entered the Chinese market in 1994 and has 2,000 employees in the country. The company invested more than 100 million U.S. dollars in China last year in the R&D of new drugs.