Dive Brief:AstraZeneca on Thursday announced plans to invest $15 billion in China over the next five years as the global pharmaceutical industry increasingly looks to the country for innovation. The investments through the year 2030 will “span the value chain,” including drug discovery, clinical development and manufacturing, AstraZeneca said. Last year, Chinese companies signed more than 60 licensing deals with U.S. and European drugmakers, according to BioPharma Dive data. And the drugmakers looking to China range from startups to some of the biggest pharmaceutical makers in the world. AstraZeneca now expects to become “the first global biopharmaceutical leader with end-to-end cell therapy capabilities in China.”AstraZeneca has a long history in China, starting in 1993.