With news of an EU Covid-19 vaccine shortage dominating international headlines, another European player is stepping up to try to bridge the gap. On the heels of French drugmaker Sanofi, Swiss pharma giant Novartis said this week it is exploring whether it can deploy its own manufacturing network to boost supply.
Swiss CDMO Siegfried has signed a binding agreement with compatriot Novartis to acquire two pharmaceutical manufacturing sites in Spain. The Zofingen-based group said the buy will “significantly enhance” its global production network in terms of capacity and technological capabilities and will allow it to reach a critical size in finished dosage forms, thus creating further potential for profitable growth.
German biotech BioNTech has signed a share purchase agreement with Novartis to acquire the Swiss drugmaker’s GMP-certified manufacturing facility in Marburg, Germany. The deal will expand the Mainz-based company’s Covid-19 vaccine production capability by up to 750 million doses per year, or over 60 million doses per month, when fully operational.
Pharmaceuticals heavyweight Novartis is changing the name of its previously indirect subsidiary AveXis to Novartis Gene Therapies. The Swiss drugmaker said the change signifies the growing importance of gene therapy to building a leading, focused medicines company with advanced therapy platforms. In future, AveXis and Novartis brands will operate under one corporate umbrella.
The Austrian government is sharing a third of the cost of a €150 million upgrade Novartis' generics unit Sandoz is stemming at its Kundl, Austria, facility. The Swiss drugmaker claims this is the last remaining integrated production chain for antibiotics in the Western world.
Novartis has finally wrapped up a suite of bribery-related lawsuits in the US, paying well over $1 billion to settle two long running multifaceted cases within a week.
Swiss chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies help drive research around the world, and major players have research activities in the US, Singapore, Japan, as well as EU facilities in the United Kingdom and Germany. But do not underestimate the role of the domestic regional clusters and industrial sites.
