Novartis to lay off 550 workers at Swiss plant amid investment in automation

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is making adjustments to its production activities including laying off about 550 permanent positions by the end of 2027 at its Stein manufacturing facility near Basel, Switzerland.

The drugmaker plans to discontinue production of tablets and capsules — as well as the packaging of sterile medicines — at the Stein plant by the end of 2027, while investing $26 million in the manufacture of sterile dosage forms at the facility as it looks to increase automation and productivity, according to the announcement.

“The Stein site will continue to be recognized and further developed worldwide as a center of excellence for sterile dosage forms and for the commercial production of complex, personalized cell therapies for patients,” the company said.  

At the same time, Novartis is investing $80 million in the expansion of the production of small interfering RNA (siRNA) at its Schweizerhalle site near Basel, with plans to create around 80 new full-time positions by the end of 2028. The company’s investment will focus on the expansion of siRNA manufacturing, which it contends is an important part of Novartis' therapeutic strategy in the field of cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic diseases.

“To maintain competitive production in Switzerland, we need to focus on investing in innovative manufacturing technologies and a high degree of automation,” Steffen Lang, president operations at Novartis, said in a statement. “With the planned adjustments, we are further developing both locations, both Schweizerhalle and Stein, as centers of excellence for innovative production.”

Focus on US investment

Last week, Novartis announced it will invest $771 million to construct a flagship manufacturing hub in North Carolina, enabling production across the drugmaker’s main therapeutic areas in a single geographic location.

The hub will provide end-to-end manufacturing capabilities — from producing active pharmaceutical ingredients to final packaging — for Novartis’ oncology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic therapeutics.  

In April, Novartis announced it will invest $23 billion over five years on 10 U.S. manufacturing and R&D sites — including seven new facilities, six of which will be manufacturing plants. The company’s North Carolina expansion is part of its $23 billion investment and goal of fully producing 100% of its key medicines end-to-end in the U.S.

Cell and gene therapies are currently manufactured in Durham, North Carolina and Morris Plains, New Jersey, while radioligand therapies are produced at Novartis facilities in Carlsbad, California, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Millburn, New Jersey, with two new sites planned in Florida and Texas.

Earlier this month, Novartis announced the opening of a 10,000-square-foot radioligand therapy facility in Carlsbad. In the coming months, the company said it will announce the location of a new facility for manufacturing xRNA therapies.