Novartis Plans Manufacturing Site in China

Novartis International AG (Basel, Switzerland, www.novartis.com) plans to build a manufacturing facility in China to synthesize small amounts of different Novartis developmental active pharmaceutical ingredients to support early-phase preclinical development activities (e.g., toxicology and formulation development) in the company’s other sites in Europe and the United States, says a company spokesperson.

Novartis initially will invest $83 million in the project, which includes building, equipment, and leasing of land. The new site will be located in Suzhou City in China. It is scheduled to be operational in the first quarter of 2007 and will include infrastructure, laboratories, and one production building.

During the initial phase of the project, Novartis will acquire the land-use right for a 228,000-m² site from the Changshu Economic Development Zone. The workshop will have a total floorage area of two production buildings of about 8000 m² each. The development facility will cover a floorage area of about 4000 m². Other auxiliary facilities (e.g., offices, warehouses, substation, utilities building, and maintenance building) will cover roughly 12,000 m².

The plant is Novartis’s first such facility in China.