Novartis notes record investments in Slovenia
Ljubljana, 2 February - Swiss pharma giant Novartis invested a record EUR 346 million in Slovenia in 2022. The company started the construction of a new aseptic production plant in Ljubljana and will establish a biotech centre in Mengeš. Novartis employed around 5800 people in Slovenia at the end of the year, 7% up from 2021.
Basel, Switzerland
Seat of pharma giant Novartis.
Photo: dpa/STA
File photo
Novartis maintained a leading position in the Slovenian pharma market last year with a 14% market share, the company wrote in a press release on Thursday. The group includes Lek, the Slovenian unit of Sandoz and the Slovenian subsidiary Novartis Pharma Services in the country.
In 2022 Novartis continued investments to increase manufacturing and R&D capabilities and refurbish existing facilities for higher productivity. Further investments focused on adapting to the demand on the market and regulatory requirements.
The company started construction of a new aseptic production plant in Ljubljana that will produce vials and syringes.
Novartis invested EUR 100 million into a biotechnological park in Mengeš that will provide new research capabilities and support for early stages of clinical trials.
A large part of Novartis's investments was aimed at improving digitalisation and automation of the process and updating existing capacities. Novartis allocated EUR 10.5 million for environmental sustainability, which is their highest investment in the sector in the last decade.
Using their knowledge and innovation, Slovenian researchers are competing successfully with the biggest global players when it comes to the speed of learning and using new automatisation technologies, robotics and machine learning, Novartis said.
In 2022 Novartis's development centre submitted 26 registration forms for drugs in key markets and launched 21 generic drugs to treat cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, glaucoma and pulmonary fibrosis.
The company's bio-therapeutics R&D department took part in 30 projects last year, nearly half were focused on innovative bio-therapeutics.
Novartis pharmaceutics and oncology unit started operating jointly as Innovative medicine Slovenia and led the innovative medicine market with a near 10% market share.
The Slovenian subsidiary of Novartis's generics arm Sandoz reported a 5% increase in net sales revenue. It offered 122 new products and reached more than 50 million patients in nearly 70 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia with its products.