Lonza, a global manufacturing partner to the pharma, biotech and nutrition industries, has announced plans to invest in additional drug product manufacturing capabilities in Switzerland.
This investment will fund an additional aseptic flexible filling line for clinical supply of drug product in Stein, Switzerland. The line will support liquid and lyophilised vial filling and processing, cartridges and pre-filled syringes. The filling line will allow the company to process monoclonal antibodies, bioconjugates, viral vectors, and other gene therapy products. It will utilise robotic technology and implement freeze-drying technology with an air-cooling system. The installation is expected to be completed in 2023 and will create more than 70 positions at the Stein site.
The investment will be accompanied by a footprint extension of the company’s drug product services (DPS) for parenteral dosage forms in Basel, Switzerland. This expansion will support the pharmaceutical development for early and late clinical stages and increase the process development and characterisation capabilities offered at the site. These facilities are expected to be operational in 2024.
Jean-Christophe Hyvert, President, Biologics and Cell and Gene, Lonza, commented: "The drug product capability expansions in Switzerland provide our customers with access to a flexible, integrated offering comprising the development, testing and manufacturing services for mammalian, microbial, bioconjugate products, cell and gene therapies, and small molecules. Enhancing our global drug product capacity underlines Lonza's continuing commitment to providing our customers with an end-to-end solution across various modalities and scales."
Peter Droc, Head of Drug Product Services, Lonza, added: "Our Drug Product Services offering in Basel is a world-class capability and represents a center of excellence for Lonza's global drug product network. Alongside the investment in the filling line in Stein, expanding the footprint and capabilities of our drug Product Services allows us to answer customer demand for integrated solutions."
The additional flexible filling line and footprint expansion of Lonza DPS will complement the drug product manufacturing capacity at the Visp, Switzerland site, which is expected to come online in the first half of 2022. As part of the Ibex Solutions biopark, the offering will support aseptic drug product manufacturing and filling of liquid and lyophilised vials.
