Lonza expands Swiss drug product site, adds 50 jobs

Lonza will feed demand for its drug quality testing and formulation capabilities through an expansion at its Drug Product Services site in Basel, Switzerland.

The Stücki Science Park-based facility launched in November 2016 and focuses on parenteral dosage form development.

The expansion will add drug product process development functions to the GMP site, and increase its formulation development, drug product analytics and quality control (QC) capabilities.

Spokesperson Dominik Werner told us the decision to expand the site came from an increased market demand.

“The Drug Product Service [DPS] offering was immediately successful in the market, filling up our capacities. That’s why we decided to expand our footprint for parenteral dosage form development with a further build-out of its DPS.”

“The expansion after only one year of operations shows the significant customer need and interest leading to different new business opportunities,” he said.

The firm said the expansion will add more than 50 roles to the site.

Small & large molecule

Werner added the facility’s services will include options for small and large molecule drugs.

“Services will include options for monoclonal antibodies, other biologics, drug conjugates, peptides and small molecules that require a parenteral dosage form,” he said.

The contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) offers services for parenteral dosage forms including products for injection and infusion for intravenous, subcutaneous, and intraocular routes of administration.

Specialised services also include excipient and surfactant characterisation, extractables and leachables assessment, container closure integrity testing and particulate identification, characterisation and quantification.