The company said it would spend the money by 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development in China. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA · Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPABritain’s biggest drugmaker AstraZeneca is to invest $15bn (£11bn) in China, it announced during Keir Starmer’s visit to the country, just months after cooling on plans for expansion in the UK. The Cambridge-based company said it would spend the money by 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development in China, where it already has a big presence. AstraZeneca has six global research hubs: two in Europe, in Cambridge and Sweden; two in the US; and two in China, in Beijing and Shanghai. The ones in China collaborate with more than 500 clinical hospitals and have led many global clinical trials in the past three years.