Lonza agreed to acquire the Genentech large-scale biologics manufacturing site in Vacaville, California, from Roche for $1.2 billion.
The acquisition will increase Lonza’s large-scale biologics manufacturing capacity to meet demand for commercial mammalian contract manufacturing from customers with existing commercial products, plus molecules currently on the path to commercialization within its network.
Lonza’s new facility has a total bioreactor capacity of around 330,000 liters. The company said that makes it one of the largest biologics manufacturing sites in the world by volume. Lonza plans to offer 750 Genentech employees at the plant employement.
Acquiring the site provides customers with immediate access to new capacity in the U.S. and creates a west coast commercial manufacturing presence. Lonza already has a biologics site on the east coast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It also maintains an international network across Europe and Asia.
Lonza plans to invest more than $550 million to upgrade the facility as well. It intends to supply the products currently manufactured at the site by Roche with committed volumes in the medium term. Then, the company expects to phase these products out as the plant serves alternative customers.
Jean-Christophe Hyvert, President, Biologics, Lonza, said: “The Vacaville site is a highly valuable strategic acquisition that will make capacity immediately available for our customers and unlock future growth for our Biologics division. It will support us in providing a commercialization path to existing customers and incremental large-scale commercial capacity to our partners. We have deep and long-standing industrial expertise in delivering commercial scale manufacturing services for our customers’ therapies. In combining this with the strong legacy of the Vacaville facility, its highly skilled colleague community and its proven track record on quality, we are excited to take our leading large-scale mammalian offering to its next chapter of growth.”
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