Sanofi reports that it has invested more than €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to create new bioproduction capacity at its sites in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val de Marne), Le Trait (Seine-Maritime) and Lyon Gerland (Rhône). The new investment is expected to create more than 500 jobs and strengthen France’s ability to control the production of essential medicines from start to finish, currently and into the future, according to the company.
This plan brings to more than €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) the amount committed by Sanofi since the COVID-19 pandemic in major projects to keep production of medicines and vaccines in France.
The company will invest €1 billion to build a new facility in Vitry-sur-Seine that will double the site’s monoclonal antibody production capacity. Several biologics in development, including those for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), asthma, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes, could be produced in Vitry.
At the Le Trait site in Normandy, Sanofi will invest €100 million ($109 million) to develop new capacity for biologics formulation, filling, device assembly and packaging. It will support the launch of future biologics and vaccines, as well as for the growth of Dupixent®, which already is indicated in several inflammatory diseases and could soon become the first biologic indicated in COPD, notes a Sanofi official.
In Lyon Gerland, Sanofi is investing €10 million ($10.9 million) to locate the production of TZield® in France. Tzield is a biologic for type 1 diabetes that Sanofi acquired in April 2023 and which has been manufactured outside Europe.
Sanofi carries out more than 60 percent of its global production in the European Union and sources only five percent of its active ingredients in Asia, compared to an average of 80 percent in the pharmaceutical industry, according to Paul Hudson, CEO.
“Thanks to the transformation undertaken since 2020, Sanofi has a record number of medicines and vaccines in development that could become best-in-class and help meet major public health challenges,” he said.
