German pharmaceutical company Bayer said Thursday it would invest 100 million euros (129 million U.S. dollars) within five years to set up a research and development (R&D) center in Beijing.

Bayer Schering Pharma AG, a division of Bayer HealthCare, will build the center, making China the third country after Germany and the United States to host a global R&D center for the company, it said in a statement.

The center is expected to help boost Bayer's capabilities in global drug development, particularly to benefit Asian patients, it said.

China is the third-largest market worldwide for the Bayer group, where the company reported 43 percent of growth rate in 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2009)