GlaxoSmithKline will buy a Chinese pharmaceutical company for about $70 million, a small deal that reinforces GSK's efforts to expand in important emerging markets.

Buying Nanjing MeiRui Pharma will give GSK new urology drugs and a manufacturing facility in China. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, GSK announced this morning.

GSK, which has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park and about 5,000 local employees, is seeking other deals to boost its business in fast-growing emerging markets, including India.

GlaxoSmithKline is in talks to buy a Chinese drug company to expand its exposure in that fast-growing market, according to media reports.

The British company expects to announce a deal to acquire Nanjing MeiRui Pharma Co. as soon as this month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

The price tag is likely to be modest, about $100 million, Reuters reported.

But the small deal highlights a large imperative for GSK and the other big, global pharmaceutical companies, the Wall Street Journal reported. Drug companies are facing flat to negative sales trends in the U.S. and Europe, forcing them to look to emerging markets for growth.