Novartis to invest $300 million in biotherapeutics

After announcing plans to spin off its biosimilars arm, Sandoz, Novartis will further tighten its focus on innovative medicines by pouring $300 million into the development and manufacture of biologic drugs. The multiyear investment will establish a biologics hub at its facility in Basel, Switzerland, add clinical manufacturing capabilities to its site in Slovenia, and boost manufacturing capacity in Austria. In the past 15 years, the pharma giant’s early​-stage biologics portfolio has expanded beyond monoclonal antibodies to include antibody-drug conjugates and therapeutic proteins.