Sanofi and Lonza: joint-venture will build $285 mln biologics facility in Switzerland

French drugmaker Sanofi and Swiss manufacturer Lonza, a supplier to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life-science industries, announced Monday that they have entered into a strategic partnership to establish a large-scale biologics production facility in Switzerland. The initial investment will be around 290 million Swiss francs (€270 million), to be split equally between each company.

Pending regulatory approvals, the facility, through a 50-50 joint venture, will be located in Visp, Switzerland, Sanofi and Lonza said in a joint statement. The initial phase of the facility will commence construction in 2017, it is expected to be fully operational by 2020.

The joint venture combines the strong biologics development pipeline of Sanofi with the expertise of Lonza to design, construct, start-up and operate a state-of-the-art large-scale mammalian cell culture facility.

"Approximately sixty percent of our pipeline is made up of biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, dedicated to key disease areas such as cardiovascular, immunology and inflammation, neurology and oncology," said Philippe Luscan, executive vice president of global industrial affairs at Sanofi, in a statement.
"Lonza is a highly experienced partner in this field and the capabilities which this joint venture will create are critical to meeting our patients' needs for these important therapies," he added.