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news.Novartis has announced a unique and flexible long-term partnership with Lonza, a global biotech company, to rapidly scale up technical development and clinical production for its rapidly growing biologics pipeline.
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Under the partnership with Lonza, each project will have a specific development agreement. Following successful development of a compound, Novartis can choose to transfer the commercial manufacturing in-house. In the short-term, the agreement will fulfill the need for additional resources in technical development. It will also provide Novartis with extra manufacturing capacity, to be utilized in a flexible way.
The strong Novartis R&D capabilities, coupled with Lonza’s leadership in process development and manufacturing, is expected to offer an ideal platform for rapid development and production of innovative biological medicines. This may include monoclonal antibodies for treating patients with diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, asthma and spinal cord injury.
Mark Levick, global head of Novartis Biologics, said: “The strategic partnership provides a win-win for both companies. It gives Novartis access to the most advanced technology and processes available to develop new biological medicines faster for the benefit of patients. At the same time, it allows Novartis to delay investments into manufacturing.”