Lonza expands capsule manufacturing capacity in China, India amid restructuring plans

Despite plans to shed its Capsules & Health Ingredients (CHI) business, global CDMO Lonza announced that it is boosting capsule manufacturing capacity at the company’s facilities in Rewari, India and Suzhou, China. 

Lonza said it “aims to increase the overall annual capacity and ensure the manufacture of capsules of the highest quality” by leveraging additional automated manufacturing lines at the sites in China and India, which are slated to start operations in the third quarter of 2025.

The company’s Rewari and Suzhou sites have been operational since the fourth quarter of 2024. The expansion, which includes additional hard gelatin capsule lines, highlights the “long-term strategic commitment to the business and the APAC region,” according to Lonza.

However, the investment comes on the heels of Lonza’s announcement that it is getting rid of its CHI division.

Earlier this month, Lonza announced it is restructuring to become a “pure-play” CDMO business, a reorganization that will be operational starting in the second quarter of 2025 and will include the company exiting its Capsules & Health Ingredients (CHI) business — which continues to be negatively impacted by destocking of pharma hard capsules.

Under a new One Lonza strategy, the CDMO plans to jettison its CHI division “at the appropriate time” with the next steps laid out in 2025. Lonza told investors the CHI business differs significantly from its long-term contracted services with a “different manufacturing model, technologies and very limited actionable customer overlap.” 

While CDMOs faced headwinds in 2024, the outlook next year for the sector is cautiously optimistic. William Blair analysts see Lonza as the “most compelling opportunity” in the pharma outsourcing and services space in 2025.