Few international companies have made manufacturing investments in Romania over the last few years.
“We reviewed our options and decided to invest in the plant, one of the investment components being boosting capacity,” said Thodoris Dimopoulos, country head of Sandoz and country president of Novartis Group.
Novartis will not only increase capacity but is also considering new products made in Romania. Another component of the investment is a test center to do stability studies, before the projects are shipped to the entire Europe. The investment is now in the planning stage, but implementation is due to begin soon, the official added.
Asked why Novartis chose Romania, Thodoris Dimopoulos said the group looked at several factors – legislative, financial and the possibility to manufacture and export, and the conclusion was that Romania was the right place for the investment.
Novartis has 650 employees in Romania, 350 of them working at the Targu-Mures plant. Sandoz is among the top five pharmaceutical producers in Romania.
Sandoz plant generated RON427 million revenue in 2020, an increase of almost 4%, ZF has calculated from Finance Ministry data.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)