Sanofi and Lonza Enter into a Strategic Partnership to Establish a Large-Scale Biologics Production Facility

Sanofi and Lonza Enter into a Strategic Partnership to Establish a Large-Scale Biologics Production Facility

- The large-scale facility, to be built in Visp, Switzerland, will be established through a joint venture with an initial investment of around CHF 290 million (€ 270 million) shared equally between Sanofi and Lonza -

- The strategic partnership leverages Lonza's expertise in large-scale mammalian cell culture^[1] facilities alongside Sanofi's strength in developing and launching biologics based treatments to address patient needs -

Paris, France and Basel, Switzerland - February 27, 2017 - Sanofi and Lonza announced today that they have entered into a strategic partnership to build and operate a large-scale mammalian cell culture facility for monoclonal antibody production in Visp, Switzerland. The strategic partnership in the form of a 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 CHF 290 million (€ 270 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 U.S. and Singapore.

"In addition to the investments we are making in building our own internal production capabilities, the joint venture between Sanofi and Lonza emphasizes our commitment to provide access for patients to high quality therapeutic monoclonal antibodies," said Philippe Luscan, Executive Vice President, Global Industrial Affairs, Sanofi. "Approximately sixty percent of our pipeline is made up of biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, dedicated to key disease areas such as cardiovascular, immunology and inflammation, neurology and oncology. Lonza is a highly experienced partner in this field and the capabilities which this joint venture will create are critical to meeting our patients' needs for these important therapies."