Novartis to make 24m doses of Pfizer vaccine from Slovenian plant

Novartis will further support production of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine through fill-finish capabilities at its Ljubljana, Slovenia site.

Earlier this year, Swiss pharma giant Novartis signed an agreement to provide aseptic manufacturing services from its Stein, Switzerland, to support the production of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The arrangement was described at the time as part of the “unprecedented level of collaboration” occurring across the industry, and nine months on such collaboration continues, with Novartis signing a new agreement to fill at least 24 million doses in 2022 from its Ljubljana plant.

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“Under the terms of the new initial agreement, Novartis plans to take bulk mRNA active ingredient from BioNTech and fill this into vials under sterile conditions for shipment back to BioNTech for its distribution,” the firm said.

“Subject to reaching a final agreement, Novartis plans to transfer the manufacturing process from Stein to Ljubljana site to commence the fill and finish in the first half of 2022.”

Unlike some of its Big Pharma peers, Novartis has not invested in its own vaccine program for COVID-19, but rather has chosen to support others.

The firm also partnered with CureVac for its COVID vaccine from its site in Kundl, Austria. However, earlier this month CureVac abandoned its mRNA COVID-19 candidate CVnCoV in favor for a second generation in collaboration with GSK.