Sanofi to build EUR 490 million vaccine production facility in France

The French pharma company will also invest EUR 120 million to create a new research center at Marcy-l'Etoile dedicated to vaccines

The plant, Evolutive Vaccine Facility, in Neuville sur Saône, France is designed around a central unit housing several fully digital production modules that make it possible to produce three to four vaccines simultaneously, Sanofi said.

However, this modularity will make it possible to rapidly prioritize the production of a specific vaccine if the need arises, it added.

The state-of-the-art industrial site, which is expected to create 200 new jobs, will enable the pharma firm’s vaccine unit, Sanofi Pasteur, to be the first pharmaceutical manufacturer to benefit from such an industrial tool and to secure vaccine supplies in the event of new pandemics, Sanofi said.

Sanofi has also committed to investing EUR 120 million to create a new R&D centre in France at the Sanofi Pasteur site in Marcy-l'Etoile to develop future vaccines.

The digital facility will house highly specialized laboratories that will enable the development of vaccines against emerging diseases and pandemic risks.

The drug firm said it hopes the centre will become “a world reference for pre-clinical research and pharmaceutical and clinical development.”

“By investing in a new industrial site and a R&D centre, Sanofi positions France at the core of its strategy, aiming to make France a world-class centre of excellence in vaccine research and production,” said Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson.