Swiss firm Novartis has announced that it will invest in setting up a new radiopharmaceutical production base in China to accelerate the introduction of innovative radioligand therapies into China and benefit domestic cancer patients with clinical needs.

This production base will be located in the Nuclear Technology Application (Isotope) Industrial Park in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province, and the total investment is expected to exceed RMB 600 million ($84.6 million). 

The construction of the base will adhere to the highest quality standards for safe and efficient operations. Once the relevant drugs receive regulatory approval, it is expected to be put into production by the end of 2026.

Once completed, this new radiopharmaceutical production base in Haiyan, Zhejiang will become Novartis' second innovative drug production base in China. Currently, Novartis has a factory in Changping, Beijing. The foundation was laid in 1987, with a total investment of more than 700 million yuan, and a maximum production capacity of 3 billion pieces of process supply and 400 million boxes of packaging supply per year.

Radioligand therapy is a new generation of innovative targeted therapy radiopharmaceuticals. This therapy can be highly selectively combined with the corresponding diseased tissue, and uses radiation energy to kill the target diseased tissue.

In March 2022, an innovative drug from Novartis' targeted radioligand therapy was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of prostate-specific prostate cancer that has progressed through androgen receptor pathway inhibitors and taxane chemotherapy. Men with sex membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). In December 2022, this innovative drug was approved in the EU, but has not yet been approved in China. Novartis has simultaneously launched international multi-center clinical research on this therapy in China. As of 2023, Novartis has approximately 10 radioligand therapy-related products under development worldwide, covering a range of tumor diseases.

Novartis currently has established radiopharmaceutical production bases in Italy, Spain and the United States. Novartis is also evaluating the need to establish radiopharmaceutical manufacturing sites in other key markets to meet global patient demand.