New lab space on 20,000 sq. ft. site is expected to open in 2012.
Lonza will carry out a CHF 10 million (about $11.97 million) expansion of its biopharmaceutical development services business in Singapore. Changes are expected to come on-line in the first half of 2012. Work will include the addition of a 1,858 m² (nearly 20,000 square foot) laboratory space with associated equipment.
The project is designed to support the full range of Lonza’s GS Gene Expression System™ for cell line construction, plus upstream and downstream process development, and a broad range of analytical services. All three services are currently offered by Lonza in its Slough, U.K., facility, but only some are offered in Singapore.
The expanded facility will also be designed to integrate seamlessly with Lonza’s biological manufacturing facility in Singapore. Lonza thus expects to be able to offer customers services from development through preclinical and small-scale manufacturing to large-scale commercial supply.
Lonza began constructing its biological manufacturing site in Singapore in 2007 and has initiated cGMP manufacturing for antibodies and therapeutic proteins used in the clinical stages of drug development and ongoing commercial supply of marketed biopharmaceutical products. The manufacturing site includes a flexible range of cGMP production capacities between 200 and 20,000 liters. In 2009, Lonza broke ground on a CHF 30 million ($35.9 million) cell therapy facility located adjacent to the existing facility.
Commenting on the expansion plans announced today, Janet White, Lonza’s head of development services, states, “This further investment in our Singapore location is driven by the increased demand we are seeing on a global basis. The location is advantageous to many of our customers from across the globe and in particular, with our growing set of customers based in the region.”