Novartis Opens Pharmaceutical Plant In Singapore, Biotech Plant to Come

Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) officially opened a new pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Tuas, Singapore on October 29, 2007, adding capacity to its global production network to meet business growth and support new product launches in the US and Japanese markets.

The plant will manufacture solid dosage forms of existing Novartis pharmaceutical brands, such as Diovan, and new products, like Tekturna. It is expected to be fully operational in 2009 and will employ approximately 160 employees.

Novartis also unveiled its plan to build a large-scale biotechnology plant in Singapore to support the rapid growth of its biologics sector, which now accounts for 25 percent of the Novartis product pipeline. Novartis expects to invest approximately $700 million-its largest investment to date in manufacturing capacity-in the new, state-of-the-art cell-culture facility.

Construction on the new biotech plant is expected to start in early 2008, and it will employ more than 300 people when fully operational by the end of 2012, subject to regulatory approvals. The cell-culture plant will support both clinical and commercial production of potential new products in the area of biopharmaceutical therapies, primarily monoclonal antibodies.

Singapore Economic Development Board release