Lonza completed the expansion of its Highly Potent API (HPAPI) multipurpose suite in Visp, Switzerland. The expansion adds development and manufacturing capacity for ADC payloads, supporting the entire development and manufacturing pipeline from feasibility studies to commercial supply, according to the company.
The expansion underlines the strategic position of ADCs in Lonza’s portfolio, says Giovanna Libralon, senior director, commercial development-small molecules, Lonza. The company develops and produces all components of these therapies, including cytotoxic payloads, antibodies, and the required linkers.
The ADC market is expected to grow strongly, driven by the growing demand for novel cancer therapeutics with higher targeting abilities, notes Libralon, adding that the recent expansion, extending the capacity of the kilogram-scale HPAPI multipurpose manufacturing suite, is “well positioned to support this growth.”
The new HPAPI suite enables handling compounds with occupational exposure levels down to 1 ng/m3, with a variety of containment solutions and a flexible setup. Equipment on-site includes reactor sizes from 1 L to 50 L with a temperature range of -80°C to +150°C, isolation, and drying equipment, lyophilization and chromatography equipment for the manufacture of payload-linkers.
“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. 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,” points out Iwan Bertholjotti, senior director, commercial development and strategic marketing-bioconjugates.
