Lonza ups ADC capabilities with Visp expansion

CDMO Lonza has added development and manufacturing capacity for antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) payloads at its Visp, Switzerland facility.

Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza has completed the expansion of its Highly Potent API (HPAPI) multipurpose site in Visp, which will support the full development and production pipeline from studies to commercial supply of ADC payloads.

“Lonza’s expanded multipurpose suite enables customers to meet the growing demand for targeted cancer treatments by developing and manufacturing ADC payloads with increased speed, capacity and agility,” said Iwan Bertholjotti, senior director, commercial development, and strategic marketing – bioconjugates, Lonza said.

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“With this new fully integrated offer in Visp, we simplify the supply chain under one roof: from the production of an antibody to the chemical synthesis of complex payload-linkers and bioconjugation.”

According to Lonza, the decision to expand its Visp site is down to the anticipation of the ADC market growing strongly due to the demand for cancer therapeutics with higher targeting abilities. Furthermore, the CDMO says that the recent expansion is positioned to support this growth.

“A majority of the antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in the market and clinical pipelines are cancer therapeutics. Furthermore, there are several ADCs in the clinical pipeline that address musculoskeletal conditions and autoimmune diseases. We’re optimistic about how these therapeutic areas will diversify in the next couple of years,” Giovanna Libralon, senior director, commercial development, small molecules at Lonza told us.

Lonza expanded its high potency API facility in Nansha, China in July 2021 to support growing demand for ADC production.

Lonza claims that it develops and manufactures all components of what it dubs “increasingly important therapies,” including antibodies and the required linkers and cytotoxic payloads. The CDMO says that this latest investment highlights continued drive for the firm in ADC manufacturing and development.

“Many cancer therapies on the market cause damage to healthy tissue outside of the therapeutic area. This off-target activity results in adverse side effects for the patient, making their life even more difficult atop of fighting this already-challenging condition,” said Bertholjotti.

“The precise nature of the ADC decreases these side effects, improves the therapeutic effect in comparison with standard care which is exactly what drives the demand for anticancer ADCs.”

The suite will house isolation and drying equipment, lyophilization, and chromatography equipment for the production of payload-linkers.

“The new expansion represents a key new asset for payload-linker manufacturing, enabling the production of these highly-potent compounds at scale with high flexibility for the execution of different types of operations. The extended capacity will allow us to respond to a growing global need for these therapies, especially in the oncology field,” said Libralon.