By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--CSL Ltd. said it will invest more than 800 million Australian dollars (US$581.8 million) in a new influenza vaccine manufacturing plant in Melbourne.

The ASX-listed biotech giant on Monday said the plant will use cell-based technology to produce influenza vaccines for both seasonal and pandemic purposes. The products will go to Australia with capacity to support global markets, CSL said in a statement.

Construction of the plant is expected to commence in 2021, with production online by mid-2026, it said. The Victoria state government will also contribute to the project, CSL said.

"The facility will be an important addition to our global influenza manufacturing supply chain," CSL Chief Executive and Managing Director Paul Perreault said. "Cell-influenza vaccine technology offers many advantages over the existing process including being more scalable and offering faster production: particularly important in the case of influenza pandemics."

CSL said the investment will come via its Seqirus subsidiary.

The facility will also manufacture a proprietary Seqirus adjuvant, which CSL said is added to some vaccines to improve immune response and to reduce the amount of antigen needed for each vaccine, enabling more doses to be manufactured more rapidly.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-15-20 1753ET