With the support from the French government’s “France Relance“ Plan, the Novasep-PharmaZell Group has announced a € 7.3M (US $ 7.47 million) investment for its Mourenx site in southwestern France.
Withy the France Relance recovery plan, signed on September 3, 2022, the French government set out to address the economic consequences of COVID-19 pandemic. The plan includes a € 100 billion (US $ 102.27 billion) investment plan representing the equivalent of one third of the annual state budget of France, with € 40 billion (US $ 40.91 billion) provided by the European Union in order to support businesses, rethink production models, transform infrastructure and invest in training.
Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic.“Turning risk and crisis into opportunity, by mainly investing in the most promising fields, which will drive the economy and create the jobs of the future. That is our choice, a choice for the future, a planned choice. With the France Relance recovery plan, we want to build the France of 2030 today.” said Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic.
Supporting growth
This investment will support the growth of the Mourenx site and sustain the growing demand for production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), particularly the highly potent drugs (HPAPIs) used to treat cancer.
This investment includes an upgrade of two existing 2.000-liter reactors to optimize their versatility and functionality, together with the addition of a new 1500-liter reactor & Hastelloy filter-dryer. The new multi-purpose workshop will be equipped to produce batches ranging from 30 to 100 kg for clinical trials, process validation and commercial production of APIs for targeted therapies, with a focus on HPAPIs.
“This major project to modernize and expand the Mourenx site demonstrates our new Group’s determination to pursue the strategy of industrial investments that we have been successfully deploying for several years”, says Jean Bléhaut, President of the CDMO Business Unit.
“This is a clear and practical answer for our pharmaceutical customers, who face growing challenges to secure supply chains in the field of healthcare products, and particularly APIs,” Bléhaut added.
State of the art
“Creating this unit is an opportunity to diversify the Mourenx site’s activity with a new state-of-the-art production facility that improves our capacity for handling highly potent therapeutic products”, adds Patrick Suescun, Mourenx Site Director.
“This will clearly be beneficial to our clients and their patients, as well as to our local teams, who will be working with the best equipment to fulfill our commitments.”
Since the completion of the Novasep-PharmaZell merger, announced on April 7, 2022, the new Group’s strategy is focused on offering its customers greater competitiveness, secure supply chains, and full support throughout the life cycle of their products.
The merger brought together Novasep and PharmaZell.
Novasep offers flexible contract cGMP manufacturing and contract development solutions for small molecule APIs & biopharmaceuticals to innovators. The company is a world leader in a number of specialized technologies including HPAPIs, antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), hazardous & cryogenic chemistry and industrial chromatography (batch and continuous).
Headquartered in Raubling (near Munich) PharmaZell offers a diversified portfolio of over 70 APIs and enjoys leading industry positions in several products that treat respiratory, inflammatory, and liver diseases. The company operates four state-of-the-art production and R&D sites, offering special handling procedures and/or technologies, in Germany, Italy, and India with over 900 employees globally.
Featured image: Novasep. Photo courtesy: © 2016 – 2022 Novasep. Used with permission.
Novasep is a sponsor of ADC Review | Journal of Antibody-drug Conjugates and Onnco’Zine.
