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By Cornelia Ritzer
Kundl, Vienna – In the Corona crisis, politicians repeatedly cited the Sandoz company in Kundl: the fact that the production of medicines in Europe is valuable and guarantees the independence of other continents. Despite this, rumors about Novartis’ subsidiary in the lowlands, which is the last remaining manufacturer of antibiotics in Europe, have grown worldwide. It has recently been speculated again that production of the active ingredient in Tyrol should be abandoned and relocated to Asia, although the global pandemic is still ongoing.
Politics reacted and invited a meeting in Tyrol. Yesterday afternoon, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Finance Minister Margarete Schramböck and Governor Günther Platter (all ÖVP) met with senior management around Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor, Novartis Austria CEO Michael Kocher, and the CEO of Sandoz Austria, Mario Riesner. “It was a very pleasant and informative conversation,” Novartis manager Kocher said after the nearly hour-long meeting.
Kocher had already denied the alleged closure plans in the previous week. “There is no decision to shut down penicillin drug production in Kundl,” Kocher told TT. According to the Ö1 report, the pharmaceutical company confirmed the enormous price pressure in Europe. In Asia, active ingredients are cheaper, personnel costs and environmental requirements are lower, but government subsidies are higher.
The Economy Minister Schramböck had repeatedly called for European independence in the production of medicines or medical protective clothing. For them, national production is part of “economic national defense” because, especially with penicillin and antibiotics, the whole of Europe is “dramatically high” in China. Austria and Europe must also be able to meet their own needs when it comes to protective equipment.
Therefore, a working group was created to give security to the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The goal of the task force is to ensure continued contact between federal, state, and corporate groups. A useful funding instrument for Schramböck is the EU project “Major projects of common European interest”, which is currently only valid for the technology area, but should also cover the medical area. Because, according to Schramböck: “After all, there are thousands of jobs.” The Swiss Novartis group employs 5,000 people across Austria.
