Sanofi has opened its first digitally enabled, continuous manufacturing facility in Framingham, Massachusetts. This is one of the world's first digital facilities using intensified, continuous biologics production technology.
The new facility features technology that connects the production process with research and development, paving the way for improved commercialisation.
The paperless and data-driven manufacturing technologies are expected to enable Sanofi to achieve higher levels of productivity, agility, and flexibility, reducing the time it takes for products to move from the development labs to the manufacturing plant, and – most importantly – meeting the needs of patients around the world.
This facility accelerates the recent transformation of Sanofi's Industrial Affairs organisation to focus on biologics-based therapies, in line with the transformation of the company's R&D pipeline and ramping up of biopharmaceutical production capacities.
The digital transformation of Sanofi's manufacturing network is a key element of the company's goal to leverage better use of data to optimise manufacturing processes, increase efficiencies, improve the agility needed to respond to fast-changing patient needs, and speed up the commercialisation of new medicines emerging from the R&D pipeline.
Spreading its wings
Framingham is the latest biologics manufacturing facility amongst a number of pilots, which are being accelerated across the Sanofi network. The innovations established at this facility are being rapidly deployed and standardised across the company. Framingham is the first "digitally born" facility while similar digital transformations are introduced in other legacy plants. Beyond Framingham, Sanofi intends to move forward with digital transformation initiatives in Toronto (Canada), Suzano (Brazil), Waterford (Ireland), Sisteron (France), and Geel (Belgium).
The Framingham digital bio-manufacturing facility is part of Sanofi's integrated, cross-functional biologics hub in Framingham, Massachusetts. A critical global hub for more than 30 years. The campus offers co-location of all the infrastructure and activities required to speed the delivery of innovative new therapies to patients, from early-stage research and process development through clinical and commercial manufacturing, including the key enabling functions of quality control and compliance, regulatory, engineering, supply chain, and learning and development.
The co-location of these critical functions allows for seamless, end-to-end product and process design and manufacturing and provides leading-edge development opportunities for our employees' competencies evolution.