Lonza steps up production arsenal, to upgrade capacity in US and Europe

Lonza, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), is making major investments to grow its mammalian drug substance manufacturing facilities in Visp, Switzerland, and Portsmouth, NH.

The Swiss upgrade will see the construction of a new large-scale mammalian drug substance manufacturing facility to expand capacity, with six 20,000L bioreactors that will help meet increasing biologics market demand, the Lonza says. The new facility, which has an anticipated 2024 completion date and an approximate cost of $715 million, is expected to have an area of about 90,223 square feet, with perfusion capabilities.

As for the Portsmouth location, it will be housing late-phase clinical and commercial development and manufacturing, and will add enough capacity for up to eight 2,000L single-use bioreactors over an area of 9,843 square feet.

This $220 million expansion is expected to be finished by 2023, and will help address the need for small- to mid-scale mammalian-derived biologics, while also supporting the implementation of high titer and high throughput platform processes.

The facility is designed to support Phase III clinical and commercial small- to mid-volume products. It will include new technologies in perfusion, purification and automation.