Lonza to build €500m fill and finish facility in Stein
Posted: 4 July 2022 | Caroline Peachey (European Pharmaceutical Review) | No comments yet
The large-scale commercial drug product fill and finish facility will be built at Lonza’s existing site in Stein, Switzerland, with completion expected in 2026.
Lonza announced that it is investing approximately CHF 500 million (€500m) to build a new flexible fill and finish facility in Stein, Switzerland. The facility will be located on the same campus as Lonza’s clinical drug product facility, allowing the company to leverage existing infrastructure, capabilities and talent.
According to the company, the investment completes the company’s strategic commitment to offer an integrated end-to-end service that includes commercial drug product manufacturing for large-scale market supply.
“This strategic investment completes our offering in drug product and strengthens our position as a leading [contract development and manufacturing organisation] CDMO with an unparalleled breadth of offerings across scales and technologies,” commented Pierre-Alain Ruffieux, CEO, Lonza.
“Combined with our strong drug substance manufacturing footprint, the new facility will enable us to provide customers with an integrated end-to-end offering across their entire product life cycle,” he stated.
Jean-Christophe Hyvert, President, Biologics and Cell & Gene, Lonza, added: “As Lonza continues to build its end-to-end offering into drug product manufacturing, we bring customers integrated offers that will increase speed to market, flexibility and simplicity, in line with our strategy. Building on our experience and expertise in addressing drug product development, formulation and manufacturing challenges, this new facility will enable us to capture additional market share and fulfil sustained customer demand for commercial drug product manufacturing.”
The new fill and finish facility in Stein will embrace the latest sustainable construction methods and include a photovoltaic roof, stated the company.
Lonza launched its clinical drug product development and manufacturing services in 2016. The CDMO’s drug product development operations are currently located at three sites in Switzerland (Basel, Stein and Visp) and in Guangzhou, China – where investment in a new sterile, multi-product fill and finish line was confirmed in 2021.
In June, Lonza and Kodiak Sciences Inc opened a custom-built, bioconjugation facility within Lonza’s Ibex® Dedicate manufacturing complex in Visp, Switzerland.
