Lonza continues growth in biopharmaceuticals
Swiss-based life sciences group Lonza, is to expand its US mammalian biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Swiss-based life sciences group Lonza, is to expand its US mammalian biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Construction begins in May of a 330,000ft2 facility designed to house leading edge biotherapeutics manufacturing technologies as well as offices, warehouse and support systems. The facility is being designed specifically with new high titre processes in mind.
The expansion may result in as many as 350 additional jobs in Portsmouth. The number of commercial and clinical biotherapeutics manufactured at the site to support Lonza's customer base will also increase. The investment is expected to be in the region of US$300m (Euro 220.9m), depending on detailed design, which is dependent upon specific customer projects.
The Portsmouth site is the largest scale mammalian cell culture plant commissioned to date by Lonza. At present, the total suite capacity amounts to 93,000 litres. The addition of a 5,000 litre bioreactor to the existing facility is already underway and is expected to come on stream in mid-2008.
'The new facility in Portsmouth will further strengthen Lonza's position as the leading supplier to the life-science industry,' said Stephan Kutzer, head of Lonza Biopharmaceuticals. 'We will be able to offer our customers tailor-made solutions in manufacturing, with cutting edge fermentation technologies and new throughput-boosting downstream processing.'