2024-09-11 05:59:20
Mini factories on wheels. In the production area of the new Sanofi factory, installed on the banks of the Saône, in Neuville-sur-Saône (Rhône), in the Lyon region, almost everything is mobile and modular. With a high dark blue partition which separated, at the time of our visit, the space into two distinct spaces. “If necessary, it can be dissolved in an hour”explains Thomas Triomphe, head of vaccines at Sanofi.
The only fixed elements: large metal panels on the walls, these “docking stations” which, connected to various mobile devices, will carry the necessary raw materials for the production of vaccines and provide machines with electricity, water, or oxygen. “In fact, you have to imagine this company as a Lego game, where you adapt the elements used according to the production processes specific to each product. For example, one vaccine may require an A, B, C component, while another may require an X, Y, Z component.explained Mr. Triomphe.
This convenience, welcomed by Emmanuel Macron, who came to inaugurate the new 24,000 square meter building on Tuesday September 10, is all over the place. “Four years ago, we were in the middle of Covid. We know what the cost of the loss of sovereignty is. (…) We tell ourselves that we need to be able to adapt to innovations much more quickly », make a visit to the President of the Republic. The company will make it possible to produce up to four vaccines or biomedicines simultaneously, regardless of the technologies used, whether reduced viral vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, messenger RNA vaccines, or treatment resulting from technology such as enzymes or monoclonal antibodies.
“More modern, ecological and connected”
By opting for this modular concept, Sanofi is breaking the codes of the pharmaceutical industry. Because, traditionally, the industrial space for vaccines or biomedicines, once built, is designed for the production of the same product or the same technology. Changing its use to include the production of other drugs, due to the complexity of the production processes, the costs and the orders required from the health authorities, is always such a challenge that the producers want to opt for the construction of a new building from scratch.
In contrast, the Neuville-sur-Saône company will be able to change from one product or technology to another in a few days or weeks. In the event of a shortage or pandemic, the site will be able to respond more quickly to health emergencies and greatly increase its production capabilities by reconfiguring the site. The site will be able to produce up to 500 million doses of vaccine per year. “It is not only a new, more modern, ecological and connected industry, but a change in the way we will produce vaccines and biomedicine in the coming decades.”underlines Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi.
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