Lonza, one of the world’s largest ingredient makers for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, opened a major new manufacturing facility in Texas this week.
The 300,000-square-foot plant, which is located outside Houston, will be dedicated to producing key ingredients for cell and gene therapies — making it the largest facility of its kind in the world. The company plans to hire around 200 full-time employees for the plant.
Swiss-based Lonza is reportedly banking on growing demand for gene therapies, especially those made by clinical-stage companies that don’t want to handle in-house manufacturing. The new facility could also help curb the shortage for accessible and more affordable gene therapy materials needed by academic teams and small companies.
Although the global gene therapy market is still developing, analysts expect it to grow to $21 billion by 2025. However, the high cost of the therapies — which are often developed to treat rare diseases — remains a challenge for drugmakers.
Read the Reuters report.