Sanofi SA will invest around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to build a new insulin production base in Beijing, its biggest single investment in China to date and part of a broader push to boost manufacturing capacity in Asia.

The new base, which will be located in Yizhuang, Beijing, marks Sanofi’s second production site in the capital and its fourth in the country.

Sanofi just made its largest investment thus far in China. The company has committed just over $1 billion to build a new insulin manufacturing facility in Beijing, reflecting increasing demand for diabetes treatments in the country.

Chinese authorities rolled out the red carpet for French pharmaceutical and healthcare giant Sanofi, which plans to invest around 1 billion euros (US$1.05 billion) to build a new insulin plant in Beijing - the company's single biggest capital outlay in the world's second-largest economy.

French pharma giant Sanofi will invest some 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to establish a new insulin production base in Beijing, according to the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA).

Sanofi is one of the world's top producers of insulin, and the China market for treatment of the illness is huge: Some 140 million people in the mainland, nearly 12% of its population, had the illness as of 2021,