$288 million Franco-Swiss biologics production facility collaboration

A strategic partnership to build and operate a large-scale mammalian cell culture facility for monoclonal antibody production in Visp, Switzerland, has been established by French pharma major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) and Swiss pharmaceutical and biotech ingredient supplier Lonza (VTX: LONN).

The strategic partnership in the form of a 50%-50% 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. The initial investment will be around 290 million Swiss francs ($288 million), to be split equally between each company.

The initial phase of the facility will commence construction in 2017, pending necessary regulatory approvals, and is expected to be fully operational by 2020. Lonza has previously built and licensed three similar facilities in the USA and Singapore.