NOVARTIS TO BUILD VACCINE PLANT IN NORTH CAROLINA

Novartis has announced plans to construct a multimillion-dollar facility in the United States for manufacturing influenza vaccines.

The first cell culture-derived influenza vaccines manufacturing plant in the United States will be built in Holly Springs, N.C., with construction expected to begin in 2007, the company said.

The total investment of roughly $600 million includes a $220 million award from the HHS. Novartis plans to make additional investments in its Marburg, Germany, site to capacitate flu cell culture vaccines production in Europe.

The Swiss company expects the Holly Springs facility to produce up to 50 million doses of seasonal trivalent flu vaccines. In the event of an influenza pandemic, the site is set to have the capacity to manufacture up to 150 million monovalent doses within six months of a pandemic declaration.

In the same statement, Novartis announced the first EU submission of a cell culture-derived influenza vaccine.