Abbott to further expand Russian production

US drugmaker Abbott (NYSE: ABT) has expanded production at its Russian plant in the Vladimir region, according to recent statements by the company.

Under the terms of the project, the company launched new production lines with the capacity of 50 million ampoules and vials per year. The volume of investments amounted to 500 million roubles ($7.8 million) and became part of an investment agreement for the expansion of the plant, which was signed between the authorities of the Vladimir region and Abbott during the St Petersburg Economic Forum - Russia’s most important annual business event – this summer.

Since 2011 Abbott has already invested more than 7 billion roubles ($150 million) in the expansion of its Vladimir plant, which is currently managed by its Veropharm subsidiary, which Abbott acquired in 2014 for around $300 million).

According to Ivan Polyak, chief executive of Veropharm, as part of the new project the company plans to focus on the production of drugs for various spheres, including oncology, hematology, neurology, cardiology and gastroenterology. Most of future output will be supplied for the needs of Russian hospitals.