Novartis invests about € 500 million in its Austrian facilities

The investment strengthens the Tyrolean Kundl/Schaftenau campus as a leading biotech location in Europe and helps accelerate the continuous supply of biopharmaceuticals from Austria. The Schaftenau plant is scheduled to be fully operational in the summer of 2024, whereas the Kundl facility will be operational in the autumn of 2025, creating 350 new high-skilled jobs on campus. 

Novatis announced planned investments in February 2024 with a focus on Austria in order to align the production network with the strategy and new technologies. As a means of strengthening Novartis’ proprietary production capacities with these highly innovative projects, two new cell culture plants are being built at the longstanding Tyrolean sites in Kundl and Schaftenau. € 250 million will be invested in a facility in Kundl which is scheduled for completion by 2025 and will create 180 highly qualified jobs in the areas of production, quality, and support. At the Schaftenau plant, the already planned investments of approx. € 250 million adding 165 new jobs in production, quality and supporting functions will be completed in the summer of this year. 

“Innovative biopharmaceuticals open up new possibilities in medicine where classic medications and therapies reach their limits. They offer new therapeutic options for a variety of oncological, cardiovascular and immunological diseases. However, the 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. 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’“, said Steffen Lang, President Novartis Operations. 

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, features unique biopharmaceutical production know-how within the Novartis network for manufacturing medicines that use microbial processes. In the future, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), 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. 

The life sciences sector in Austria