Lonza has completed a planned expansion of the mid-scale microbial manufacturing facility at its Visp site. This multi-product facility was recently granted a GMP license after a successful audit by Swissmedic, allowing cGMP manufacturing and release of biologics produced using microbial fermentation. 
 
The facility provides mid-scale commercial manufacturing capacity and houses two 4,000L fermenters, offering commercial manufacturing capacity that can scale to meet customer needs. The processes are widely automated for increased efficiency and improved product quality, while ensuring regulatory compliance, according to the company. Housed within the Ibex Biopark in Visp, the facility leverages the existing infrastructure, capabilities, and talent. 
 
The mid-scale facility enhances Lonza’s microbial manufacturing scale flexibility, which includes small and large-scale assets with extended, phase-appropriate supply for a broad range of drug developers’ needs. The new facility also incorporates automation principles in its core operations, including an electronic manufacturing execution system (MES) and integration of all sensors. 
 
Michael De Marco, Vice President, Head of Microbial, Lonza, said, “Microbial manufacturing is a well-established and a favored option for producing complex proteins. Recent growth in the heterogeneity of the biotech pipeline, alongside the growth of smaller and more complex next-generation molecules, has increased demand for microbial manufacturing capacity. This expansion adds to our suite of scales and further strengthens our offering to flexibly adapt to all demand and life cycle scenarios of our customer’s medicines.”