AbbVie to build US$320m manufacturing facility here

[SINGAPORE] US pharmaceutical firm AbbVie will invest US$320 million to build a manufacturing facility here. It will be the company's first manufacturing facility in Asia, and is expected to be fully operational by 2019.

AbbVie, formed in 2013 after its separation from Abbott Laboratories, produces some of the world's best- selling drugs including Humira, a rheumatoid arthritis treatment with annual sales of about US$15 billion.

When AbbVie's plant is completed, the Republic will have 29 pharmaceutical plants, nine of which will be involved in making biologics.