Novartis extend COVID-19 vaccine deal with BioNTech

pharmafile | October 21, 2021 | News story | Business Services  

Novartis announced today that it has signed an initial agreement with BioNTech SE to expand its support of the fill-and-finish of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine. The company will carry out the transfer of the vaccine substance into vials under sterile conditions. Novartis will begin operations in the first half of 2022 in its facilities of Ljubljana, Slovenia. They aim to fill at least 24 million doses in 2022.

This new agreement follows a first contract signed earlier this year, which had Novartis filling and finishing more than 50 million doses at its site in Stein, Switzerland. Novartis began filling for BioNTech in June following the EU’s drug regulator EMA approval of the filling-and-finishing plant.

Novartis plans to transfer the manufacturing process from the Novartis Stein site to Ljubljana. The facility in Ljubljana is a state-of-the-art aseptic filling operation which manufactures and supplies a range of aseptic products for Sandoz, a Novartis division.

Novartis is a leading global medicines company using innovative science and digital technologies to create transforming treatments in areas of great medical need. This month they have also partnered with Tencent for the digital transformation of patient and healthcare professionals to manage chronic heart diseases, to push for changes in how health systems approach cardiovascular disease. Novartis has stated that most countries around the world are not doing enough to meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) goal of a 25% reduction in cardiovascular mortality by 2025.

Ana Ovey


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