February 4 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's government said it has approved a 6.6 million euro ($7.5 million) state aid to pharmaceutical company Lek, a subsidiary of Novartis, for the construction of an 82.6 million euro plant for production of liquid vials and pre-filled syringes.
The new production facility will be built in Ljubljana and will employ 121 people, the government said in a statement on Thursday.
The approval of 6.6 million euro state aid by the government was a condition for the start of the project, public broadcaster RTV reported on Thursday.
Lek plans to complete the construction of the factory by October 14, 2024, and the value of the approved state aid is equal to 8% of the eligible investment costs, the government said. The company will receive up to 2.97 million euro in state aid in 2022, 3.44 million euro in 2023 and 145,944 euro in 2024.
The factory will be equipped with state-of-the-art technological equipment for aseptic processes, which is not available in any pharmaceutical industry in Slovenia, the government noted.
Since taking over Lek in 2002, Novartis has invested about 3 billion euro in Slovenia, including 420 million euro in the last two years.
($ = 0.8829 euro)