Novartis is teeing up $300 million to expand its development and manufacturing operations to bolster its push into biologic medicines.
The company, which has been on a cost-cutting spree, said it will spend $110 million to increase clinical manufacturing operations at its facility in Mengeš, Slovenia, and another $60 million to expand capacity at its site in Schaftenau, Austria.
In addition, the company plans to establish a biologics hub at its Basel, Switzerland, campus to complement an existing Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research center.
The investments are part of Novartis’ efforts to weave its early-stage biotherapeutics portfolio into existing locations.
In the past 15 years, the company has made significant gains in its early-stage biologics portfolio, expanding beyond conventional monoclonal antibodies into a wide range of novel development candidates that include antibody-drug conjugates and therapeutic proteins, Novartis said.
“Biotherapeutics account for almost one-half of all recent new drug approvals and have enormous potential to address unmet need across a wide range of diseases,” Reto Fischer, Novartis’ head of technical research and global drug development, said in a statement.
For the Swiss drugmaker, the biologics push comes amid a major streamlining effort. In April, Novartis said it would integrate its oncology and pharmaceutical divisions into one group, leaving three executives without positions at the time. Novartis said the move would "reduce duplications of business structures in every country.”
Then in June, Novartis announced it would cut about 8,000 of its 108,000 worldwide workforce as part of an effort to save $1 billion.