June 1 (SeeNews) - Slovenian pharmaceutical company Lek, a subsidiary of Switzerland's Novartis, plans to halt production of antibiotics at its Prevalje factory and relocate the activities to Slovenj Gradec by the end of the year, local media reported.
Lek, which operates as a unit of Novartis subsidiary Sandoz, has started negotiations with social partners regarding the contracts of 220 employees active in the production of antibiotics in Prevalje, public broadcaster RTV reported on Wednesday.
The decision takes into consideration increasing demand for antibiotics and the additional investments in the antibiotics factory in Austria's Kundl, RTV quoted Sandoz global operations anti infectives head, Hannes Woerner, as saying.
Lek announced in October 2019 its plans to suspend production in Prevalje but delayed the move on several occasions, RTV said.
According to Slovenian media reports, Novartis plans to transfer Lek's assets worth 691.6 million euro ($737.7 million) to its other local unit, Novartis Slovenia, and will relocate Lek's manufacturing of solid products in Ljubljana, as well as active ingredients and biological drugs at a factory in Menges, to Novartis Slovenia. The restructuring is part of the process of spinning off its Sandoz division.
Novartis announced the Sandoz spin-off last year. The Swiss group aims to focus on hematology, oncology, immunology, neuroscience and cardiovascular treatments, while Sandoz will retain the generics and biosimilars division.
($ = 0.93949 euro)