  Pharmaceuticals giant Novartis (Basel, Switzerland, 

) has chosen Cambridge,  MA, as the global headquarters for its vaccines and diagnostics  division. The site is planned to be fully staffed by the second half of 2007  and will be located near the Cambridge-based Novartis Institutes for BioMedical  Research, the company’s global pharmaceuticals research headquarters.

The new Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics site will have  approximately 250 employees in positions such as research, development,  marketing, human resources, IT, finance, and general management. The majority  of the division's leadership team also will be based in Cambridge. 

As part of a restructuring of its vaccines business,  Novartis is attempting to create a global network of vaccine manufacturing  sites and implementing programs to improve reliability and increase supply of  influence vaccines. The second-largest supplier of flu vaccines in the US,  Novartis expects to complete shipments of more than 30 million influenza  vaccines for the current seasonal flu period in the US.

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Pharmaceuticals giant Novartis (Basel, Switzerland, www.novartis.com) has chosen Cambridge, MA, as the global headquarters for its vaccines and diagnostics division.