Novartis Enters Agreement With Roche on Production of the Latter's Drug

By Cecilia Butini

Swiss pharmaceutical major Novartis AG said Thursday that it has entered into an initial agreement with healthcare company Roche Holding AG for the production of the active pharmaceutical ingredient for one of Roche's drugs.

Novartis said the agreement is to reserve capacity and implement a technology transfer for the production of the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Roche's Actemra/RoActemra, a rheumatoid arthritis drug.

As part of the agreement, Roche's manufacturing expertise will be transferred to Novartis's drug-substance site in Singapore during the second quarter of the year, the company said.

The agreement follows similar deals that Novartis has struck with BioNTech SE and CureVac NV to provide manufacturing capacity for Covid-19 vaccines.

Write to Cecilia Butini at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-15-21 0159ET