Opening of the new site represents the largest biosimilar development hub and supports Sandoz in building its in-house capabilities.
Sandoz has marked progress on the first of three major investment projects by opening a new $99 million biosimilar development centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The 10,000m², end-to-end facility will strengthen Sandoz’s in‑house biosimilar capabilities, supported by advanced analytics and data science. It forms part of the firm’s investment of more than $1.1 billion in Slovenia.
Opening of the new centre will help Sandoz capitalise on the opportunity available in the upcoming ‘golden decade’ for biosimilars, the company affirmed.
Richard Saynor, Sandoz CEO, said: “This new state-of-the-art biosimilar development centre in Ljubljana represents a major step up in our internal biosimilar development capabilities and is now a central pillar of our in-house biosimilar development and manufacturing network.
“It will accelerate our leading biosimilar pipeline and, together with our manufacturing investments, help move biosimilars efficiently into production, supporting our ‘golden decade’ of more affordable healthcare, with approximately $320 billion in biologic patent expiries expected over the next decade.”
“[The new development centre] will accelerate our leading biosimilar pipeline and, together with our manufacturing investments, help move biosimilars efficiently into production, supporting our ‘golden decade’ of more affordable healthcare”
Richard Saynor, Sandoz CEO
Gilbert Ghostine, Sandoz Chairman, said: “With the opening of our new biosimilar development centre, we are investing in the future, harnessing science and capabilities to bring high‑quality biosimilars to patients faster and more affordably, while supporting the sustainability of healthcare systems.”
Sandoz’s new development centre supports expansion of its biosimilar footprint in Europe. This includes construction of a sterile production and packaging facility in Brnik, announced last July. Alongside Sandoz’s acquisition of Just-Evotec Biologics’ biosimilar site in Toulouse, France.
To further enhance its biosimilar pipeline and take advantage of the upcoming biosimilar loss-of-exclusivity market, in March, Sandoz agreed to collaborate with Samsung Bioepis in a new licensing, development and commercialisation deal. It could advance up to five biosimilars and expand Sandoz’s pipeline by up to 32 assets.
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