Servier invests in bioproduction in France

Independent French pharma company Servier has announced the launch of a bioproduction program at its site in Gidy. First research batches are expected in 2019 and first clinical batches in 2020.

Currently, around 50% of the new anticancer treatments originate from biotechnologies, and the partnerships established by Servier in this field over recent years with Macrogenics, Cellectis, Pfizer, GeNeuro, Sorrento, and also the Institut Curie, are in keeping with this trend. Through their mechanism of action, which is more targeted and more accurate than those of chemical molecules, these biopharmaceuticals allow better efficacy and reduced side effects to be achieved in given patient populations.

In order to accelerate the availability of these new treatments for patients and healthcare professionals, to better control the development process for these candidate drugs, and to be able to reduce the costs of the end products, Servier has decided to complement its industrial expertise by building a bioproduction unit at its site in Gidy, near Orléans (France).