Novartis Expands Operations in Singapore

Singapore (Oct. 29)-Novartis opened a new $180-million tableting facility in late October in Singapore and announced its intention to construct a $700-million cell-culture facility in the country. According to various printed sources, the announcement was made by Novartis officials at the inauguration of the tableting facility.

The cell-culture facility, which is expected to be operational sometime in 2012, will manufacture cells for clinical and commercial production of potential new biopharmaceutically based therapies for indications ranging from asthma to oncology. The move, said several reports, signals Novartis’ intention to place an increased emphasis on biological drugs in its product pipeline.

Novartis joins several other large pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech, Abbott, and Lonza, who have also put biopharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Singapore.  

Singapore has made a concerted effort to boost its attractiveness to pharmaceutical concerns-especially those in the biopharmaceutical sector. In a report released by the Singapore Economic Development Board, Mr. Lim Hng Khiang, the country’s minister for trade and industry was quoted as saying, “The biologics facility further reinforces Singapore’s position as a leading location for world-class biopharmaceuticals manufacturing. Within two years, we have attracted five biologics manufacturing investments.”