Lonza Invests In Single-Use For Swiss Manufacturing Facility
By Cyndi Root
Lonza announced in a press release that it plans to invest in the infrastructure at its manufacturing facility in Visp, Switzerland. Some technology and facility improvements to its Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) clinical manufacturing facility are already complete as the construction occurred in the spring over a seven-week period. The improvements allow for new ADC products and more capacity. The second phase is underway and will allow for faster changeover times between manufacturing campaigns.
Stefan Stoffel, SVP of Operations for Pharma & Biotech at Lonza, said, “We have witnessed significant growth in the early-phase ADC market in the last two years. This new investment is necessary to continue to support the growing pipeline of novel ADC platforms from our customers by offering them new manufacturing technology with increased throughput.”
Visp Upgrades
Oncology therapeutics are growing quickly, as are ADC therapies. The Visp facility upgrades are being implemented to meet the growing demand. The facility in Visp produces toxicology lots, early-phase GMP lots, and GMP re-supply lots to clinical trials. To make the manufacturing process more flexible, Lonza is introducing single-use technology, which will reduce contamination risks and increase manufacturing capacity. Lonza is also making improvements to the facility including instituting a new plant layout and restructuring the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. The reconstruction will result in a larger area for ADC production, providing more manufacturing capacity.
Lonza’s Swiss Facility
Lonza made the improvements in the Spring without interrupting any current operations, and it plans to continue operations while the second phase of construction is completed. The Lonza facility in Visp, Switzerland offers development and manufacturing of ADCs (antibody drug conjugates). Lonza has provided large-scale manufacturing of ADCs since 2010. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the ADC facilities in 2012. To comply with cGMP standards, the facility must be able to handle both biological species and highly potent cytotoxic small organic molecule drugs.
About Lonza
The Visp site stands on the original ground of the founders of Lonza, begun in 1897, taking the name from the nearby river, Lonza. The facility has over 2,600 employees in a 900,000 m2 facility with 70 labs. In addition to ADC manufacturing, the company provides peptides, small molecules, cytotoxics, and microbials.