Lonza plans to invest $15 million to expand Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) manufacturing capacity in Visp, Switzerland. Oncology therapeutics, including ADCs, represent one of the fastest growing segments of the pharma and biotech industry. The expansion of the ADC facility will double the existing large-scale manufacturing capacity in Visp, and is expected to be complete in the 2Q14.
 
For the cGMP manufacture of ADCs, facilities must be designed to handle both biologics and highly potent cytotoxic small molecule drugs. Lonza has been manufacturing ADCs since 2006 with established manufacturing suites for both small and large-scale projects, dedicated R&D, and Quality Control facilities specifically for ADCs. Since 2010, Lonza has validated large scale manufacturing of platform technologies.
 
“We have witnessed significant growth in the ADC market in the past 24 months and this investment is necessary to continue to support the growing product demands from our customers” said Stefan Stoffel, head of Lonza’s Chemical Manufacturing business unit. “Lonza Visp will continue to offer a fully integrated end-to-end development and manufacturing solution for ADCs, including the cytotoxic small molecules used in these products and all associated analytics. In addition, Lonza can support protein development and manufacturing via our global biologics development and manufacturing sites.”