While Pfizer Inc. is downsizing in the United States, including an impending pullout from its former world research-and-development headquarters in New London, the giant pharmaceutical firm plans to expand in China.

Pfizer announced Wednesday that it will create a new R&D center in Wuhan that should be employing up to 200 people within three years, according to the Reuters news service. The Chinese facility will support early clinical development of drugs in partnership with the Wuhan National Bioindustry Base Construction and Management Office.

"With plans to be a state-of-the-art facility, the Wuhan center will be an integral part of Pfizer's global R&D operations while being closely aligned with the Chinese government's strategy on biopharmaceutical industry development in the region," Reuters quoted Allan Gabor, Pfizer's regional president in north Asia, as saying in a statement.

Pfizer also said it will be expanding its existing R&D operations in Shanghai, but gave no details, according to Reuters. China Daily, an English-language newspaper available online, reported in September that Pfizer also recently spent $60 million on a new manufacturing plant in northeast China

New York-based Pfizer, whose largest worldwide research campus will remain in Groton, earlier announced that Shanghai would be one if its main R&D sites going forward after its $67 billion merger with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Other major drug companies are also eyeing China for its potential as a huge pharmaceutical market as well as for its highly skilled workers and relatively low pay scale. Novartis, for instance, just announced a $1 billion investment to build China's largest pharmaceutical research plant yet.

"The enthusiasm is specifically driven by China's three-year ($124.5 billion) medical system reform package that aims to provide more accessible and affordable healthcare to the country's 1.3 billion people," according to China Daily.

l.howard@theday.com