Swiss pharmaceuticals group Novartis AG said on Monday it will build a $700 million biotechnology facility in Singapore to support the company's growing biopharmaceutical business.
Construction of the cell culture plant which will employ around 300 people, will begin early next year and be completed by the end of 2012.
The cell culture plant will be the first biologics manufacturing investment in Singapore by a pharmaceutical company and the fifth commercial-scale plant for biological-based products, said Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang.
Novartis' investments in the city-state "now span the entire value chain of activities, covering drug discovery, clinical research, manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and contact lenses, and regional headquarters for its pharmaceuticals, vaccines and dignostics, generics and consumer health businesses," Lim said.
Singapore produced $15.84 billion worth of biomedical products last year, a rise of 30 percent from 2005.
The new plant is the firm's second investment in Singapore following a $180 million facility that officially opened Monday.
October 29 2007
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