Roche drops $500M into new global operations hub, with 500 jobs to follow

After watching its rheumatoid arthritis med Actemra go up on in flames in COIVD-19 trials, Swiss drugmaker Roche opted to sign an August antibody manufacturing pact with Regeneron. Now, seeking to get its manufacturing house in order, Roche is splashing the pot on a new global operations hub in Canada. 

Roche will dole out $500 million over five years for a global technical operations center at its Canadian pharma headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, the drugmaker said last week. 

The hub will aim to hire 200 workers by the end of 2020 in supply chain, quality and other regulatory functions, Roche said. The facility will then add 300 more workers by 2023. 

Roche's addition at its existing Mississauga site will not manufacture drugs itself, but will support operations and supply across the drugmaker's 13 plants and 11 sites around the world, a Roche spokeswoman said. The Mississauga campus now houses Roche's Canadian commercial unit as well as product development, global procurement and pharma informatics, the company said. 

Most recently, Roche joined a major pact with New York's Regeneron in August to help produce and commercialize a COVID-19 antibody cocktail, dubbed REGN-COV2, that is currently under FDA review for an emergency use authorization in moderate-to-severe patients. 

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