Multinational drugmakers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into new production and research operations in China, even as the government demands sharply lower prices. In mid-November, German drug giant Bayer AG said it would invest 100 million euros ($104 million) to double its drug packaging capacity in Beijing, creating the largest such Bayer plant in the world. Two weeks earlier, Germany’s Merck Group agreed to invest 170 million euros in a drug factory in Nantong, Jiangsu province. By 2021, it will be Merck’s largest facility outside Europe. The same month, Switzerland’s Roche started construction of an 863 million yuan ($124 million) research center in Shanghai that will be the largest research and development center built by a multinational drug company in China. According to Caixin, China’s demand for pharmaceuticals has climbed by more than 10% annually over the past several years.