The Malta subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is half way through a €30 million investment to strengthen its capacity to produce medicinal products for over 70 markets worldwide.

Prime Minister Robert Abela, who visited the plant at Bulebel on Wednesday, was told that the new investment started in 2020. €20 million will have been invested by the end of this year, and a further €11 million are planned for 2023.

“The aim of this continued investment is to strengthen our manufacturing facilities and position ourselves for growth, while allowing us to take on new projects in the coming months and years. This investment is a strong sign of confidence in the Malta site of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries – which has the largest supply chain of any pharmaceutical company in the world," said Patrick Cachia, site managing director at Teva Malta.

The investment so far has gone into a new purified water system, a full fabric upgrade of three granulation bays, tooling for new products, new chillers, compressors and house vacuum transfer systems for employee protection.

Teva has also invested heavily in its IT infrastructure.

Plans for next year include new production equipment, new tooling and the extension of a new quality control laboratory, amongst others.

Teva, headquartered in Israel, set up the Malta plant in 1976. It rolls out 2.2 billion pills annually for a range of 150 products. It employs 430 and intends to add another 70 workers. 

The company is being assisted in its investment by Malta Enterprise. 

The prime minister was accompanied on his visit by economy minister Silvio Schembri and industry minister Miriam Dalli.