Genzyme to invest 250 million euros for Belgian plant to support growth of Myozyme and Lumizyme

US rare disease drug specialist Genzyme (Nasdaq: GENZ), the subject of a hostile takeover offer from France’s Sanofi-Aventis, says that it will build an additional manufacturing plant in Geel, Belgium, to support the long-term growth of Myozyme (alglucosidase alfa) and Lumizyme (alglucosidase alfa) for Pompe disease.

The company held a ceremony yesterday in Geel to mark the start of construction of the new 250 million-euro ($334 million) plant, which will include 8,000 liters of production capacity, a complete purification installation, and ample room for additional future capacity expansions. Commercial approvals for the new site are expected to start late 2014.

Genzyme is struggling to recover from a manufacturing crisis that led to shortages of two key drugs: Cerezyme (imiglucerase for injection) for Gaucher disease; and Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta) for Fabry disease. The company also signed a consent decree with the Food and Drug Administration agreeing to correct manufacturing quality violations at its Allston, Massachusetts, manufacturing facility and to turn over to the federal government $175 million in “unlawful profits” from the sale of products that were made at the plant (The Pharma Letters passim).