Lonza Builds Swiss Fill & Finish Facility
Swiss CDMO Lonza plans to build a large-scale commercial fill & finish facility in Stein. The new facility, to be located on the same campus as Lonza’s existing clinical drug product capabilities, will cost roughly 500 million Swiss francs and should be completed in 2026.
“This strategic investment completes our offering in drug product and strengthens our position as a leading CDMO with an unparalleled breadth of offerings across scales and technologies. 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,” said CEO Pierre-Alain Ruffieux.
The facility will also enable Lonza to capture additional market share, added Jean-Christophe Hyvert, president, biologics and cell & gene.
Lonza has been expanding its drug product development and manufacturing services worldwide since 2016. Projects have been implemented in Stein, Basel and Visp – all in Switzerland – as well as in Guangzhou, China.
On Jun. 1, Lonza announced it had added a dedicated early phase clinical manufacturing facility at its site in Bend, Oregon, USA. The facility comprises 11 suites, seven of which are for GMP processing, providing enhanced capabilities for the development and clinical manufacture of drug products and intermediates. Capabilities include spray dried dispersion powders for oral delivery, and dry granulation and compression into immediate-release dosage forms.
The company is already installing additional capabilities that will be ready by the end of 2022. These include a second spray dryer designed specifically for the manufacturing of engineered particles for inhalation, as well as encapsulation equipment.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
