Swiss manufacturing partner Lonza has announced plans to invest in additional drug product manufacturing capabilities in Switzerland. The investment will fund a new aseptic flexible filling line for clinical supply of drug products in Stein, which will support various modalities including monoclonal antibodies and gene therapy products. Lonza will also expand its Drug Product Services (DPS) for parenteral dosage forms in Basel, which will strengthen its integrated drug substance and drug product offering. The new facilities are expected to be operational in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and will create over 70 new positions.
Basel, Switzerland – Lonza, a global manufacturing partner to the pharma, biotech and nutrition industries, today announced it will 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 (CH). The new line will support liquid and lyophilized vial filling and processing, cartridges and pre-filled syringes. The new filling line will allow Lonza to process various modalities, including monoclonal antibodies, bioconjugates, viral vectors, and other gene therapy products, for its customers. The filling line will utilize state-of-the-art robotic technology and implement innovative freeze-drying technology with a sustainable air-cooling system. The installation is expected to be completed in 2023 and will create more than 70 new positions at the Stein (CH) site.
To support Lonza's global drug product capacity increase, the investment will be accompanied by a footprint extension of its Drug Product Services (DPS) for parenteral dosage forms in Basel (CH). This expansion will further support the pharmaceutical development for early and late clinical stages and increase the process development and characterization capabilities offered from the Stücki Technologiepark in Basel. The expansion will strengthen the integrated drug substance and drug product offering across multiple modalities. The new DPS facilities in Basel (CH) 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 (CH) site 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 lyophilized vials.
Since introducing drug product development and manufacturing services in 2016, Lonza has expanded its drug product offering in Basel and Stein (CH), and Guangzhou (CN). This new investment brings Lonza's global drug product manufacturing and fill and finish capacity to three sites and includes four vial lines and one flexible filling line.