Shanghai Pharma reveals aggressive expansion plan

Shanghai Pharma is set to expand to San Diego, USA, with a new R&D hub, and is also seeking to gain technology and market access “through the short-cut route of acquisitions,” chairman Zhou Jun told the South China Morning Post recently.

The interview reveals the firm’s ambitious plan to expand internationally, after it acquired the Chinese arm of Cardinal Health for about half a billion dollars.

Shanghai Pharma, which currently spends over $100 million on research and development annually, is focused on digestive, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, among other therapeutic areas, and is listed in Hong Kong as well as Shanghai. It is about a third owned by local government.