Novartis invests €500 Million in its Austrian Facilities

• Novartis is investing about €500 million in its Austrian facilities to accelerate the continuous supply of biopharmaceuticals.

• The Schaftenau plant is scheduled to be fully operational in the summer of 2024, and the Kundl facility will be operational in the autumn of 2025.

Novartis is investing approximately €500 million in its Austrian facilities, building two new cell culture plants at their long-established sites in Kundl and Schaftenau in Tyrol, Austria.

They will invest €250 million in the Kundl facility, which is expected to be finished by 2025. The Schaftenau plant is scheduled to be fully operational by the summer of 2024, while the Kundl facility is expected to be up and running by the autumn of 2025.

“Complex biological active ingredients require a lot of experience and know-how to produce, and we are proud that we have been able to build up this knowledge over decades.” said Steffen Lang, President Novartis Operations.

“Our Kundl and Schaftenau sites are among Novartis’ innovative production sites throughout Europe. As one of the leading Austrian pharmaceutical companies, we are very well positioned to further strengthen our production capacities and to continue to supply patients in Austria, Europe and around the world with innovative medicines ‘Made in Austria’“.

Novartis has been manufacturing biopharmaceuticals in Austria at the Competence Center for Cell Cultures in Schaftenau since 2004. With a cell cultivation volume of 1.8 million litres/year, this new investment creates a production facility with the highest output and ensures synergies with the existing facilities in the areas of production, quality, infrastructure, and support services. It is currently in the qualification phase and will be put into operation in the summer of 2024. 

The production area in Kundl, which went into operation in 1979 and manufactures medicines used in microbial processes. In the future, monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies and other cell culture products will also be produced in a highly automated system. With up to 150 batches per year, the new system will significantly expand the existing production capacities based on microbial processes.