Singapore: Japanese drug major Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma has announced that one of its subsidiaries, Tianjin Tanabe Seiyaku, is planning to construct a new production facility in China.

Work on this unit would be starting in August and will complete in March 2015, with production slated to begin in January 2016. The planned cost of the project is about $19.2 million.

The new facility is designed to expand production capacity of the subsidiary, and aims to meet new Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. It will be located at the existing site of Tianjin Tanabe in Tianjin.

Mitsubishi Tanabe has said that paving the foundation for expanded overseas operations is one of the challenges in the group's medium-term management plan. China was designated as a priority area for implementing the strategy.