The global healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson signed an agreement with Xi’an High-tech Industry Development Zone on Nov 14 concerning the establishment of a new Johnson & Johnson manufacturing base in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province.

Clifford Holland, the company’s corporate vice-president, said that the project involves Johnson & Johnson’s largest base of its kind in the world, and it will be their largest investment for a single project in China, though he did not specify the amount to be invested.

The base is also expected to be the largest biopharmaceutical factory in China, with a total floor area of 267,000 square meters.

It will replace the existing Xi’an-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd base, a joint-venture invested by Johnson & Johnson and a Chinese partner in 1985, and it will become a new creative hub in Asia, with the aim of meeting the requirements of the Chinese market and other emerging markets.

Construction of the first phase of the project will start in April 2014 and the base is expected to begin operation in 2016.

The company said it will have an annual production capacity of 5 billion tablets and the annual sales income will reach about 10 billion yuan ($1.64 billion).

Edited by Niva Whyman