Lonza to invest in new plant
construction of a major new production facility in the town of Visp
with the announcement of a SFr100 million (€68.4m) investment in a
biopharmaceuticals manufacturing facility.
Switzerland's Lonza group has confirmed its commitment to the construction of a major new production facility in the town of Visp with the announcement of a SFr100 million (€68.4m) investment in a biopharmaceuticals manufacturing facility.
Earlier this year, Lonza announced that it was to expand its small-scale production facilities at Visp, and has now decided to invest in further expanding its operations there after a number of alternative sites were rejected.
Lonza Biotec produces microbially-derived intermediates and non-proteinic ingredients, with all the research and development being carried out in Visp while production takes place in Kourim in the Czech Republic. The new investment in the Visp plant should allow the company to expand its business in the microbially-produced biopharmaceuticals sector.
The new plant will have a multi-product design and will consist of two independent production units with a fermenter volume of 1,500 litres and 15,000 litres respectively. Each fermenter will include a corresponding primary recovery and purification line. Product specific equipment can be added when necessary, the company said. The new facility will enable Lonza to supply materials for the different clinical phases through commercial supply in a versatile and flexible way, it said.
"The facility will be able to deal with intracellular soluble products, with such forming inclusion bodies and requiring refolding, as well as with secreted ones. Furthermore the facility will be "ex proof" and therefore able to handle organisms requiring feed of solvents for their culture," Lonza said in a statement.
The plant design complies with the requirements of the FDA's Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and the FDA's Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), including an elaborate environmental monitoring system. The project also includes an expansion of Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) services, as well as the R&D activities in Visp.
The plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2004, with commercial operations starting by the first quarter of 2005.
Lonza Biotec is part of Lonza Group and claims to be the leader in contract development and manufacturing of therapeutic ingredients and intermediates.
