Genmab signs up to Lonza’s Ibex design and development service

Danish drugmaker Genmab has upped its relationship with long-term CDMO partner Lonza by reserving space at the Ibex Design and Ibex Develop facilities in Switzerland.

Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) is constructing a biopark at its site and headquarters in Visp, Switzerland, to support its range of Ibex biologics development and manufacturing services.

Denmark’s Genmab has been working with Lonza on multiple antibody-based programs since 2002, and with its strategy to fully outsource its biomanufacturing, the firm has reserved space at the park.

The Ibex biopark is under construction at Lonza’s site in Visp, Switzerland

“Genmab will be taking space in Ibex Design and Ibex Develop,” a Lonza spokesperson told us. While details on molecules and timelines have not been disclosed, we were told it is multi-year contract for a portfolio of products. “The goal is to provide Genmab with the flexibility they need moving their pipeline forward.”

Ibex

Lonza launched its Ibex range of biomanufacturing solutions in 2017, offering flexible production capacity for biotherapeutics across new facilities in Visp. Ibex will consist of five buildings, two of which are currently under construction.

The initial service offered dedicated manufacturing space. Portola Pharmaceuticals, for example, selected the Ibex program for its recombinant protein AndexXa (andexanet alfa). Big Biopharma firm Sanofi, meanwhile, co-invested CHF 290 million ($292 million) into a dedicated large-scale facility run as a joint venture with Lonza.

In 2018, the CDMO expanded its Ibex offering by launching Ibex Design and Ibex Develop through a CHF 400 million ($402 million) investment into multi-customer sites, covering the development and clinical manufacturing phases to support products all the way from pre-clinical to launch.

Ibex Design focuses on preclinical and IND needs to Phase I – with Lonza offering a 12-month timeline guarantee – and Ibex Develop offers drug substance and rug product manufacture using single-use bioreactors up to the 2,000 L scale.