Sandoz breaks ground on new Slovenia facility to expand European biosimilar hub

Sandoz (SDZNY) announced the start of construction for a new biosimilars production center for sterile product manufacturing in Brnik, Slovenia. This $440M project brings the company’s total planned and ongoing investment in Slovenia to more than $1.1B by 2029. It complements ongoing investments in Slovenia, namely a new biosimilar drug substance production center in Lendava and a biosimilar development center in Ljubljana. The construction start on the new plant marks the latest development in the company’s strategic plan to capture a significant part of an unprecedented market opportunity, with the value of biosimilar patent expiries expected to reach $222B over the next 10 years. The ongoing investments in in-house capabilities to establish a fully integrated European biosimilar hub are in line with the existing capital expenditure commitments related to Sandoz operations in Slovenia.