Sanofi-aventis double syringe production capacity at Le Trait

French drugmaker Sanofi-aventis has doubled its syringe production capacity with the opening of new production units at the Le Trait site in France.

The plant produces high-tech sterile injectable products, primarily for export to the US and Japan. The company has invested Euro 87m in these new production units, one of the largest made on the Le Trait site since its creation in the 1960s.

"A cutting-edge technological platform, the Le Trait site produces one million syringes a day and exports close to 90% of its production, 25% of which are for the North American market," said Christopher Viehbacher, chief executive of Sanofi-aventis.

The production lines will include new filling, inspection and packaging systems enabling the Le Trait plant to double its production of prefilled syringes to meet growing market demand for Lovenox, which has seen 13% growth worldwide.

The site will also further diversify its vaccine production in partnership with Sanofi Pasteur. It already produces the seasonal flu vaccine Vaxigrip and from this month (December) will add the packaging of an infant meningitis vaccine for the Japanese market. In addition, production of the intradermal flu vaccine Intanza will start early in 2010.

Sanofi-aventis says the new filling lines will enable it to optimise the quality of the medicines manufactured on the site, through electron beam (e-beam) sterilisation technology, which is said to ensure very fast decontamination of components.