The $486 million Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics manufacturing plant will officially open in Holly Springs on November 24.
A select group of elected officials, North Carolina business and economic development leaders and news reporters have been invited to witness the ribbon cutting for the world's first large-scale flu cell culture and adjuvant manufacturing facility.
Though it won't initially be federally approved for selling the vaccines it produces in vat-grown cells rather than in eggs, as is the decades-old traditional method, the 430,000-square-foot facility is expected to pass muster with federal inspectors and be fully operational next year.
Its 350 employees will be able to produce seasonal flu cell culture vaccines, pre-pandemic vaccines and 150 million doses of pandemic vaccine within 6 months of influenza pandemic declaration.
Daniel Vasella, Novartis' chairman and CEO, will join in the celebration, along with two key executives of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics--CEO Andrin Oswald and Matthew Stober, global head of technical operations.
Other guests will include representatives of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control.
Participants will also get a guided tour of the facility.
The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority gave Novartis a $289 million contract to support the design, construction, validation and licensing of the plant, making it the largest biomanufacturing construction project in the U.S. The total value of the site may reach $600 million, officials said.
The Holly Springs site, first announced in 2006, is aimed at streamlining vaccine production to prevent shortages and better respond to surprises as new strains of flu virus evolve. It will add to Novartis' existing North Carolina employment totaling about 680 workers at facilities in Greensboro and Wilson.
Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics is a division of Novartis AG, based in Basel, Switzerland.