Lonza http://www.lonza.com/
Lonza is a Life
Sciences driven chemical company headquartered in Switzerland,
with sales of CHF 2.54 billion in 2002 and operating 18
production and R&D facilities in 8 countries. It employs 6
200 people worldwide and is the leading supplier of active
chemical ingredients, intermediates and biotechnology solutions
to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. It also offers
a broad catalogue of organic intermediates for a wide range of
applications such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, vitamins,
food and feedstuff, dyes and pigments, adhesives and fragrances.
Furthermore the Group manufactures specialty biocides and
oleochemicals and develops and produces specific polymer
intermediates, unsaturated polyester-resins, compounds and
composites.
Business strategy
In January 2001 Lonza announced a strategic reorientation. After
the demerger from algroup in October 1999, Lonza has recognized
the need to carry out an extensive review of the strategic
options available to the Group. After a thorough review, the
management and the Board came to the conclusion that the most
value-accretive strategic objective requires the focusing of Lonza on the
life sciences sector by fully utilizing and further developing
the biotechnology and chemicals capabilities. The corresponding
portfolio of businesses provides a focused platform, which is
sufficiently wide in scope to allow for further strategic
development and growth.
The Group is already a world-recognized supplier to the
pharmaceutical and agrochemicals industries, and holds other
significant positions in the production of intermediates for the
wider life sciences markets. The combination of this long
established reputation and the technological arsenal currently
and potentially available to Lonza is the basis upon which the
strategy to focus on life sciences is to be founded. Organic
growth opportunities are believed to be abundant in the chosen
markets, especially in the areas of custom manufacturing and
biotechnology, and the Group believes that it is ideally suited
to leverage them.
The sale of
the Energy business at the end of 2001 has been in line with
Lonza's strategy to focus on its life sciences oriented
businesses.
The reformulation of the Group not only required the divestiture
of non core assets, but more importantly sizable investments,
mainly in four strategic projects in the areas of microbial and
mammalian cell fermentation and in traditional organic chemistry.
These investments will further strengthen Lonza's position as the
pre-eminent supplier to the life sciences industry, and is the
basis on which the Group is committed to continue to improve its
performance in the future.
ロンザＧ、バイオ事業拡大へ積極策打ち出す
ロンザグループはバイオテクノロジー分野の事業拡大を目指す。このほど英セルテックと抗体フラグメントを受託生産することで合意した。他方、米バシネックス社と抗体探索サービスで戦略的提携を結んだ。化学技術とバイオテクノロジーの２つの技術を併せ持つ特色を生かしながら、顧客のさまざまなニーズに応えられる“ワンストップショップ”を目指す。
Lonza announces long-term
microbial manufacturing agreement with Celltech
Lonza Group Ltd announces today that it has entered into a
long-term supply agreement with Celltech Group plc, under which
Lonza Biotec will manufacture PEGylated antibody fragment-based
drugs for Celltech at its production facility for microbial
biopharmaceuticals. Lonza and Celltech also announce the
settlement of CDP 571 agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Celltech has reserved at Lonza
Biotec a fixed annual manufacturing capacity in its 1,000 litre
and 15,000 litre fermenter systems for recombinant microbial
products, covering the period 2004 to 2010, at pre-agreed rates.
The agreement allows Celltech flexibility in scheduling to meet
the clinical timelines for its portfolio of PEGylated antibody
fragment based development products. Lonza Biotec will provide
technology transfer, scale-up, cGMP manufacturing and quality
control testing services at its site in Visp, Switzerland.
"We are very pleased to confirm a long-term agreement with
Celltech ? one of the leading European Biotech companies ? for
our Microbial Biopharmaceuticals Plant in Visp in
Switzerland", said Markus Gemuend, Chief Executive Officer
of Lonza Group. ”This
contract is a further substantial step to strengthen our pipeline
in the area of microbial biopharmaceuticals.”
Celltech has developed proprietary
technology for the production of very high affinity antibody
fragments in a microbial fermentation system. These antibody
fragments are chemically modified using polyethylene glycol (PEG)
to facilitate a long circulating half-life in patients. Celltech
is developing products using this technology to address large
disease markets such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. The
leading product using this technology, CDP 870, is currently
being assessed in a large Phase III programme in rheumatoid
arthritis by Celltech’s
partner, Pfizer. Celltech has three further PEGylated antibody
fragment products in development and a broad portfolio of
research programmes utilising this technology.
Dr. Goran Ando, Chief Executive Officer of Celltech, commented:
"Lonza has considerable experience in the production of
biologicals built up over a number of years, and we are pleased
to have extended our relationship with them into microbial
production of our antibody fragment-based products. Timely access
to product supply is critical in meeting our goal of accelerating
development of our exciting portfolio of antibody fragment-based
products. This long-term agreement complements our existing
manufacturing collaborations, ensuring we have a robust product
supply for clinical development, and in the ultimate
commercialisation of these products if successful."
At the same time, Celltech and Lonza Biologics reached settlement
regarding the termination of their supply agreement for the
production of Celltech’s
anti-TNF-alpha antibody, CDP 571, releasing Celltech from any
further obligations under this contract.
Lonza is a Life Sciences driven company headquartered in
Switzerland, with sales of CHF 2.54 billion in 2002 and operating
18 production and R&D facilities in 8 countries. It employs 6
200 people worldwide and is the leading custom manufacturer of
active chemical ingredients, intermediates and biotechnology
solutions to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. It
also offers organic intermediates for a wide range of
applications and provides antimicrobial and associated products
as well as polymer intermediates and compounds. For more
information on Lonza please visit the company’s website at www.lonza.com.
2003/7/11 Lonza
Lonza Biologics and Vaccinex announces strategic alliance
Lonza Biologics (Lonza) and
Vaccinex, Inc. today announced a strategic alliance that offers
their respective clients a broad range of antibody discovery and
manufacturing services.
Lonza will provide Vaccinex, its clients and co-development
partners with access to its proprietary Glutamine Synthetase Gene
Expression system, which offers important advantages including
high yielding cell lines, ease of use and regulatory familiarity.
In addition, for a period of five years, Lonza will provide
dedicated access to its cGMP manufacturing facilities for the
clinical production of recombinant proteins and antibody
products. Vaccinex will offer antibody discovery services to
Lonza’s clients seeking to
identify novel therapeutic antibodies. Vaccinex’s library-based antibody discovery
technology is unique in that it can directly express complete,
fully human antibodies in mammalian cells. Both parties will
assist each other in the marketing of their respective antibody
service offerings to clients.
“By coordinating the
discovery and clinical manufacturing processes, we are able to
offer our clients a more efficient and predictable pathway for
product development. In addition, Vaccinex, our clients and
co-development partners will benefit from obtaining access to
Lonza’s world-class
antibody manufacturing facilities and expertise,” said Dr. Maurice Zauderer, President and
CEO of Vaccinex.
“Integrating Vaccinex’s innovative library-based antibody
discovery technology with the GS Gene Expression System will
offer true value to customers by producing substantial quantities
of high quality, fully functional human monoclonal antibodies
that would have been difficult to identify with other systems.
Moreover this relationship will facilitate a rapid and smooth
transition from product discovery to clinical manufacture,”
said Markus Gemuend, CEO of Lonza
Group.
About Lonza
Lonza is a Life Sciences driven company headquartered in
Switzerland, with sales of CHF 2.54 billion in 2002 and operating
18 production and R&D facilities in 8 countries. It employs 6
200 people worldwide and is the leading custom manufacturer of
active chemical ingredients, intermediates and biotechnology
solutions to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. It
also offers organic intermediates for a wide range of
applications and provides antimicrobial and associated products
as well as polymer intermediates and compounds. For more
information on Lonza please visit the company’s website at www.lonza.com.
About Vaccinex, Inc.
Vaccinex is a privately held biotechnology company engaged in the
discovery and development of novel therapeutic antibodies.
Therapeutic antibodies have become one of the largest and fastest
growing sectors of biotechnology, currently representing
approximately 20% of all drugs in the biotechnology pipeline.
Vaccinex’s antibody
discovery platform is one of the only library-based antibody
technologies that can directly express complete, fully human
antibodies in mammalian cells. The company is commercializing
this technology by offering antibody discovery services to
clients worldwide and is developing its own proprietary
therapeutic products, initially focused on cancer. The firm is
headquartered in Rochester, New York and currently has over 30
employees. For additional information, please visit the company’s website at www.vaccinex.com.
Lonza unit ready to start
up as separate firm
The
polymer intermediates division of Switzerland's Lonza group was
ready to start doing business on its own as soon as early
October, a source familiar with the business told Platts on the
sidelines of the EPCA 2006 meeting. The company, to be called Polynt, could start operating as a
separate entity by October 9, the source said.
Lonza, which reported its plan to spin off the division as an
Italian business, was understood to hold a 15% share in the new
company.
The new company was expected to launch an IPO on the Italian
Stock Exchange once approval was gained from Italian regulatory
bodies. Lonza had previously estimated that this approval would
be gained during the third quarter of 2006.
Polynt would handle products previously managed by Lonza,
including plasticizers, phthalic anhydride
and maleic anhydride.
Lonza plans to focus on chemical product logistics.