Seqens opens HPAPI unit

President Emmanuel Macron (above) and Bruno Lemaire, Minister of the Economy, Finance & Recovery, were both present on 28 August, when pharmaceutical CDMO Seqens unveiled a new HPAPI unit at its site in Villeneuve-La-Garenne, France. The total investment in the UPP30 project, as it is called, was about €30 million.

Seqens carried out UPP30 with Belgian biotech company Mithra to manufacture a fifth-generation contraceptive molecule. This is said to have “a superior safety profile for women and with a very high level of biodegradability, giving it a major environmental interest”. During the ceremony, Seqens said that its future is based on three key pillars:

* Skills development: It committed to doubling the number of its work-study students and apprentices, particularly in technical fields, by early 2020 and will take on over 150 young people in 2021

* Innovation & R&D, citing the new Seqens’Lab in Porcheville, opened in 2019, as “a world-class R&D campus that supports our customers in the development of their molecules from the pre-clinical phases through to industrialisation”

* The quality & performance of its products, based on yjr skills of its employees at 24 sites and “an industrial culture of performance, rigour and continuous improvement that allows us to continue to offer our customers quality products in compliance with the strictest quality, environmental and safety standards”