Lonza starts up at Nansha

Lonza has started up the mid-scale manufacturing assets at its API facility in Nansha in China’s Guangdong province. The site is fully integrated within Lonza’s global small molecules manufacturing network and this expansion has increased employee numbers there by 70 to around 330.

Originally announced in June 2021 as part of a €20 million investment, the expansion includes six 1,000L reactors, four 1,500L  reactors, and isolation equipment providing mid-scale capacity to bridge between early-phase and late-phase production. The company said that this enables it to “provide customers with a smoother transition from small to large-scale manufacturing while maintaining global quality and regulatory standards”.

Lonza has also announced that it has formed a collaboration with Korean biotech firm AbTis in antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). This will connect Lonza’s toolbox for the development and manufacturing of bioconjugates with AbTis’ AbClick bioconjugation platform.

AbClick relies on a novel, site-specific conjugation, which can be used to conjugate various payloads to native monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). A cyclic peptide binds to a specific site of the mAb, leading to precise conjugation and improved stability in the resulting ADCs. The linker creates an isopeptide bond with a nearby lysine, providing improved stability and cleavage resistance.