Pressed for production resources due to its effort to develop a vaccine to prevent Covid-19, Sanofi said it will  build a new vaccine manufacturing facility at Neuville sur Saône, France, the north of Lyon.

The French drugmaker will take more than $500 million in hand for the Evolutive Vaccine Facility (EVF), which is planned to start up in 2025 and eventually employ 200 people.

Sanofi’s new capacity will allow it to manufacture doses of three or four separate vaccines at one time as a lifeline to supply subsidiary to Sanofi Pasteur in future pandemics.

The EVF will employ multiple modular production lines built around a central hub to help produce rounds of multiple vaccines simultaneously and quickly switch to mono-production in the event of a pandemic.

Sanofi already operates 12 global manufacturing facilities, including three sites in France, located at Neuville sur Saône, Marcy-l'Étoile and Val-de-Reuil.

As announced late last year, Sanofi will also establish a new research center dedicated to vaccines at the Pasteur site in Marcy-l'Etoile, France. This digital facility will house highly specialized laboratories that i said will focus on emerging diseases and pandemic risks.

Sanofi said the French R&D facility will become a “world reference” for pre-clinical research and pharmaceutical and clinical development.

"By investing in a new industrial site and a R&D center, Sanofi positions France at the core of its strategy, aiming to make France a world-class center of excellence in vaccine research and production," CEO Paul Hudson said.