US pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) is to add a production facility in France for paxlovid, its antiviral COVID-19 pill, as part of a plan to invest EUR520m in the country over the next five years, Reuters news agency reported on Monday.

According to Pfizer, this investment will initially involve the production of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for paxlovid at a plant run by French pharmaceutical group Novasep. Additional Novasep facilities are expected to be added next year.

Pfizer said: "Novasep will produce API for use in our manufacturing network, expected to contribute to the overall (global) effort to produce 120 million courses of treatment in 2022."

A spokesman for Pfizer said that it expected Novasep's plant in Mourenx, in south-west France, to be incorporated into its global paxlovid supply chain in the third quarter of this year, with production being expanded to include other Novasep facilities in 2023.

The company added that a part of the EUR520m will also go into research in France, including partnerships with biotech firms there.