Lek opens new labs in Mengeš

  • Pharma company Lek, owned by Swiss multinational Novartis, has expanded its facility in Mengeš, just north of Ljubljana, in a project worth EUR 10m. The investment will create an additional 100 new jobs.

    The project included the construction of cutting-edge new laboratories for development of biopharmaceutical products, quality control and technical development of biophramaceuticals.

    The head of Lek’s business unit in Mengeš, Matjaž Oven, said the project confirmed Biofarmacevtika Mengeš’s key role in the Sandoz group and in Novartis.

    The head of technical development and production of biomedical products, Stefan Lang, said Biofarmacevtika Mengeš’s “know-how, expertise and employees” were at the highest level. “This was confirmed by the recent Novartis’s decision to invest over EUR 10m,” he said.

    Novartis has so far invested EUR 1.6bn in Lek, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary this year, of which over EUR 64m has been earmarked for Biofarmacevtika Mengeš.

    Carol Lynch, global head of Biopharmaceuticals & Oncology Injectables, said investments into Biofarmacevtika Mengeš would continue to build a “fully integrated biotechnological centre”.

    The Mengeš centre is one of the two Sandoz’s centres for development of biopharmaceutical products, with the other one being located in Austria.

    In Mengeš, over 350 experts are employed, of whom 34% have a Master’s degree or a PhD in science.

    Sandoz is a leading maker of biopharmaceuticals, one of the fastest growing branches of the pharmaceuticals industry.

    Source: The Slovenia Times

    Photo: LEK d.d.