French-based Sanofi closed its drug manufacturing site in Fawdon in 2015 with the loss of 450 jobs.
Now, Accord Healthcare is to use the plant for its pharmaceutical production, with the hope many of the jobs will be filled by ex-Sanofi staff.
A spokesman said the firm was confident the investment would have an "extremely positive" impact on the area.
The leader of Newcastle City Council, Councillor Nick Forbes, said: "This announcement is fantastic news for Newcastle and the North East and helps strengthen our reputation as a home for the science and healthcare sector.
"Accord is a global player in the pharmaceutical industry and the highly skilled jobs and long-term investment bring a welcome boost the local economy."
Accord Healthcare develops, manufactures and distributes more than 130 pharmaceutical products to about 60 countries worldwide.

In its annual report, the charity said its local workers carried out a total of 349 counselling sessions with children at risk of suicide in 2015/16.
The callers considered most at risk were aged between 12 and 15.
Across the UK as whole, the number of calls from suicidal children almost doubled from the total five years ago.
The figure show that youngsters plagued by suicidal thoughts contacted Childline 19,481 times throughout the UK last year - an average of one call every 30 minutes.
The charity also said girls were more likely to seek its help than boys.
Geraldine McConaghy, a senior supervisor with Childline Northern Ireland, said suicidal thoughts were a result of the "pressures that young people are under".
"They might have poor mental health, they might be feeling pressure from school, pressure within the family," she said.
"When they come to us, what we've noticed is that, on average, one child in Northern Ireland contacts Childline each day who is feeling suicidal."
One 17-year-old girl who contacted the charity last year said she was having difficulties coping at college and finding the lessons "a struggle".
"In the past, I've had to take some time off because I've been suffering with mental health problems," the caller told Childline staff.
"Sometimes I feel so stressed and useless; I just have to walk out.
"I sometimes feel like I want to die."
Childline Northern Ireland's service manager, Mairead Monds, said: "We need to understand that there are children and young people living in Northern Ireland that are experiencing significant mental health problems, self-esteem issues, isolation and feelings of worthlessness.
"These are children who have very little support and who very often feel that life is simply not worth living."

The unrest erupted after a policeman allegedly killed the man and wounded two others during an argument over the price of a cup of tea.
The policeman has been arrested and the case referred to prosecutors.
Video footage showed angry protesters overturning a police vehicle while chanting "the police are thugs".
Egypt has seen a series of allegations of police brutality in recent months, stoking public anger.
The interior ministry said that Tuesday's incident in the eastern suburb of Rehab began with an argument over the price of a cup of tea between several policeman and a street vendor.
One policeman opened fire, killing the vendor and wounding two passersby, it added.
Photographs showed what appeared to be a man lying still on the floor, covered in blood, surrounded by angry onlookers.
Witnesses said the protest began shortly after the incident.
"Security forces brought in two riot police vehicles and an armoured truck and the victim's family is here and pelting them with rocks," one witness told the Reuters news agency.
"Security forces are retreating and promising justice but the crowd is demanding police hand over the killer."
In February, there was a protest outside the Cairo security directorate after a policeman reportedly shot dead a driver in a street in an argument over a fare.
There were also riots in Ismailia and the southern city of Luxor after at least three people died in police custody in a single week in November.
The government has also been forced to repeatedly deny allegations that security services were responsible for the killing of Italian academic Giulio Regeni in Cairo earlier this year.
Officials have blamed a criminal gang for his abduction and torture.
A company is to take over a disused pharmaceutical plant in Newcastle, creating up to 100 jobs.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Childline received a call from children experiencing suicidal thoughts in Northern Ireland almost every day over the course of last year.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Egypt's capital, Cairo, to protest after a tea vendor was allegedly shot dead by police.