Lonza to Expand API Facility in China
Lonza is investing 20 million Swiss francs in an expansion of its API development and manufacturing facility at Nansha, China. The Basel-based CDMO said the expanded laboratories and manufacturing infrastructure should be operational sometime between the first and the third quarter of next year. At the start, some 70 jobs will be added to the currently 250-member staff.
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The higher capacity will facilitate mid-scale manufacturing to ensure a smoother transition between early-phase and large-scale commercial production and benefit the many global emerging biotechs with which Lonza partners, said Jan Vertommen, senior director, commercial development. |
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As part of the investment, three 1,000-liter GMP trains with an overall 12 m3 of reactor volume are being added to the facility, along with new development and GMP laboratories with capabilities to manufacture small-scale batches of highly potent APIs (HPAPIs). Lonza said its Nansha site is fully integrated into its global manufacturing network. Scientists and engineers working there focus on API development and manufacturing for customers worldwide. The team also includes specialists experienced in working with Chinese regulators throughout the drug development and scale-up process. “Global pharma and biotech companies are increasingly looking to China, both for development and manufacturing of global products and in some cases for greater access to clinical trials conducted there,” Gordon Bates, president of the CDMO’s Small Molecules division, noted. “With these expanded capabilities at our Nansha site, we aim to support the next generation of innovative and life-saving drug development,” he said. Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist |
