AstraZeneca is listing in New York, as Big Pharma balances the huge U.S. market with China’s tempting innovation

Pharma giant AstraZeneca will list on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, days after it announced big commitments on the other side of the world.

Like the rest of Big Pharma, the company has a balancing act. It wants a close relationship with the U.S., its biggest market, and the listing is intended to boost investment there.

Meanwhile, innovation-friendly China is attracting pharma companies that urgently need to develop new medicines to replace blockbuster drugs whose patents are set to expire in the next few years. Pricing challenges in the U.S. add to the pressure.

AstraZeneca has announced it’s investing billions in China and partnering with a Chinese biotech on weight-loss drugs, just before its shares list in the U.S on Monday.

The developments come at a critical time for the pharma industry as companies are increasingly looking east for innovation to replace the revenue of current blockbuster medicines going off patent in the next couple of years. Pricing challenges in the U.S. market, which accounts for the bulk of profits for most big pharma companies, are adding to the pressure on Big Pharma.

On Thursday, AstraZeneca said it plans to invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand both manufacturing and research and development, as Keir Starmer became the first UK prime minister to visit the country for eight years.

“These investments span the value chain, from drug discovery and clinical development to manufacturing, and bring Chinese innovation to the world,” the company said, while highlighting a flurry of other partnerships with other biotechs in the region.

In a separate announcement on Friday, the UK’s largest company would partner up with Hong Kong-listed CSPC Pharmaceuticals to strengthen its obesity portfolio. The collaboration agreement includes eight of CSPC’s preclinical and early-stage programs, including a once-monthly injectable. CSP stock fell 10.2% on the announcement.

AstraZeneca will pay CSPC $1.2 billion upfront, and an additional $17.3 billion if certain regulatory, research and sales milestones are met, an AstraZeneca spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Friday. The company declined to comment further on its geographic priorities.

The announcements came just before the listing of AstraZeneca shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, as well as its recently announced $50 billion U.S. investment to waive off U.S. pharma tariffs.

“What we can discern from this is that the US and China will be the two most important regions for the company for the foreseeable future,” Camilla Oxhamre, portfolio manager at Rhenman & Partners, told CNBC via email.