March 19 (SeeNews) - Slovenian pharmaceutical company Lek plans to start the construction of the production facility of its new biosimilars production plant in Lendava in April, local media reported.
The company has launched the construction of an energy facility to optimise the production of electricity, steam, compressed air and cold at the complex and intends to complete it in 2025, news agency STA quoted on Monday sources from Lek as saying.
Lek also plans to build a warehouse with an underground connection to production facilities that will have a footprint of 5,000 sq m, Lek noted.
"We plan to establish in Lendava the most efficient production of active ingredients for biological medicines in Europe, which will further strengthen the role of Slovenia in this rapidly growing pharmaceutical field," Lek sources noted.
Lek started the construction of the 400 million euro ($434 million) biosimilars production plant in December and expects to start operating it at full swing at the end of 2026. The company plans to open 300 jobs at the high-tech production centre.
In August, Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis transferred its ownership of the entire equity capital of Lek to generic medicines manufacturing unit Sandoz as part of the process of spinning off Sandoz from Novartis.
($ = 0.92205 euro)