Ibex™ Solutions Campus, Lonza Biopark, Visp, Switzerland
Lonza is building an Ibex™ Solutions campus of five state-of-the-art manufacturing complexes that deliver biopharmaceutical customers agile capability at every stage of development and production.
In 2017, the global pharma and biotech leader Lonza launched Ibex™ Solutions. Ibex™ Solutions is an innovative biological development and manufacturing concept coupling flexibility in facility-build-out with fully tailored business models and leveraging Lonza’s expertise and service network in Visp.
Lonza biopark in Visp
Visp in Switzerland is the founding location of Lonza Group. The Visp biopark in the Swiss Alps is Lonza’s main location and is housing most of the companies manufacturing research and development operations. Lonza produces a wide range of products for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, electronics and aerospace industries on-site. Lonza biopark in Visp leverages the companies existing infrastructure, support networks and a stable and highly skilled workforce.
It is home to chemical manufacturing capabilities for Peptides, Small Molecule APIs, Highly Potent APIs, Cytotoxics, Antibody Drug Conjugates, and Microbial Biopharmaceuticals. The site location includes around 2,600 employees, a 900,000 m2 facility with 70 labs, R&D and scale-up facilities, and state-of-the-art multipurpose plants for over 850 m3of production capacity.
The Ibex™ Solutions Campus
The venture was first announced in June 2017 and initially included building a biomanufacturing complex to house the operations of Ibex™ Solutions.
In a joint venture with Sanofi, Lonza is also establishing a biological manufacturing facility at Visp. Development on the project began with an estimated investment of CHF$290 m ($302.5 m) in September 2017.
In September 2018, Lonza invested CHF400 m ($414.6 m) to develop two additional manufacturing complexes and launch Ibex™ Solutions, Ibex™ Design, and Ibex™ Development. It is expected that the construction work will be finalised by 2020.
Biomanufacturing Complex Visp
The Ibex™ biomanufacturing complex will be integrated into Lonza’s Visp site and will be built on a brownfield surface of 100,000m2. The new complex is expected to create several hundred new biotechnology and pharma jobs over the coming years.
Felix Constructions was awarded a contract in March 2018 to build the façade of the first building. Burckhardt+Partner, a Swiss-based company, is the architect and general planner for the construction.
The Ibex™ complex for biological manufacturing will also provide modular models for biopharmaceutical companies to handle product phases such as the development, production and manufacturing of drug substances.
It will feature a highly flexible and technology-independent construction for different engagement modes. The biomanufacturing complex will also use the GS Gene Expression System®, a proprietary platform software that provides rapid development of high yield mammalian cell lines.
Lonza’s Ibex™ Solutions Overview
The home for Ibex™ Solutions is the Lonza biopark in Visp.
Ibex™ Solutions are technology-independent, highly flexible and capable of supporting multi-technology activities – mammalian, microbial, cellular or bio-conjugate – and from late discovery to development and commercial manufacturing.
Due to this revolutionary approach, according to a press release, Lonza’s consumers will see the time to market for their products shortened by a whole year or more.
It will allow Lonza’s customers to scale up or scale out to various sites within the U.S., Europe or Asia network of the company.
Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) offerings
Ibex™ Solutions from Lonza include three innovative CDMO offerings, namely Ibex™ Design, Ibex™ Develop, and Ibex™ Dedicate.
Ibex™ Design and Ibex™ Develop facilitate smooth operation at all product development stages.
Ibex™ Design
Ibex™ Design provides pioneering fixed-price gene-to-vial packaging and fast delivery solutions for preclinical and phase I drug development stages as well as clinical resupply manufacturing slots.
Ibex™ Develop
Ibex™ Develop is designed to help companies achieve their biologics license application (BLA) submission in just 22 months.
Ibex™ Dedicate
Ibex™ Dedicate is a creative personalised distribution system that accelerates the process of development before the product comes onto the market. Ibex™ Dedicate controls risks and investment decisions. The modular operating models include tailored solutions for mammalian and microbial vaccine, gene and cell therapy production
Ibex™ Technology has been planned for late-stage clinical trials requiring approval and advertising for biological licencing applications.
The solution enables companies to build capacity to meet the growing demand within a short period of time. It also removes the need for the transfer of software and allows the efficiency of processes while enhancing organisational effectiveness. To improve efficiency, the Ibex™ Solutions are using single-use bioreactors and advanced automation technologies.
To improve efficiency, the Ibex™ Solutions are using single-use bioreactors and advanced automation technologies.
More about Lonza
Founded in 1897, Lonza is a world leader in life sciences. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the company is present in more than 100 locations around the world and has more than 15,000 employees. In 2018 Lonza declared revenues of 5.524 billion CHF ($5.61 billion).
Lonza provides product development and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biologics industries, including custom manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals, chemical synthesis, detection systems and services for the bioscience sector. It is involved in the manufacturing of biologics with several pharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi for the production of biologics and GlaxoSmithKline to manufacture therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Lonza also manufactures drugs Mydicar for Celladon.
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