ISTOCK, D3DAMONSwiss chemicals and biotech company Lonza officially opened its new cell and gene therapy manufacturing plant in Pearland, near Houston, Texas, yesterday (April 10). The facility’s 300,000 square feet make it the world’s largest manufacturing plant devoted to making these types of materials, according to a statement.
“This facility has the potential to produce treatment for thousands of patients suffering from rare genetic disorders or life-threatening diseases, under one roof,” Andreas Weiler, business unit head of technologies at Lonza, says in the statement. “It will set a new standard in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.”
One of the key goals of the plant, officially named the Lonza Houston Center of Excellence, will be to engineer viruses as gene-therapy vectors—shortages of which have created bottlenecks across the industry in recent years.
According to Lonza, the plant is already manufacturing products for some customers. By the end of 2018, the company plans to have recruited a full-time staff of more than 200 people, including scientists and engineers. “Cell and gene therapies will become mainstream,” Weiler tells Reuters. ...
