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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Maryland Lands Its Largest Investment by a Chinese Company With Biotech Firm’s Expansion Project

06/07/2011
Tasly Group, one of China's leading biopharmaceutical companies, will invest $40 million in a new 430,000-sq.-ft. production facility and training center for traditional Chinese medicine in Montgomery County, Maryland. This marks the largest investment by a Chinese company in the state.

The U.S. operations will be located in the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center, and create dozens of jobs over the next three years.

Tasly officials said they selected Maryland to leverage the vast bioscience resources nearby as they prepare for Phase III clinical trials of their traditional Chinese medicine product Compound Danshen Dripping Pills (CDDP), developed to treat and prevent coronary disease. The company's goal is to make CDDP the first traditional Chinese medicine product to launch as an FDA-approved pharmaceutical in the American market. (It could be on the shelves as early as 2014 if Phase III trials are successful.) The firm estimates over 10 million patients a year could benefit from this traditional Chinese medicine to treat coronary diseases and angina.

Tasly officials added that future plans including building a world-class bio-pharmaceutical base, and providing high-quality products for U.S. and European markets at its Maryland facility

"We were looking for a place with the best talent, research and development infrastructure and geographic location in the U.S. and Maryland, with its rich scientific community and world-class universities is the perfect fit for us," said Tasly Chairman Yan. "We think there is an incredible opportunity for Tasly to innovate new products and introduce them to the U.S. market. This also marks an important chapter in the globalization of traditional Chinese medicine."

Tasly will be well-positioned to establish R&D collaborations with renowned research institution Johns Hopkins University and other premiere biotech companies and health partners located in the Center, said county officials.

Since 2007, Maryland has attracted over more than 40 foreign-owned companies from high-growth countries, including China, Brazil, Korea, Russia, India, Sweden and the United Kingdom, with about one-quarter of these companies locating in Maryland's International Incubator at the University of Maryland College Park.

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