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.

Sanofi plans to invest around 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to build a new insulin production base in Beijing, which will mark the French drugmaker's largest single investment in China, the company said on Monday.

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.

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).

French drugmaker Sanofi plans to invest 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to build a new insulin production base in Beijing, a local authority in the city said on Monday, citing a memorandum of understanding the company signed with an economic zone.

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,

Sanofi’s latest capital outlay in China will cover the development of a new insulin plant in the nation’s capital.