What you must remember
-> Prime Minister Jean Castex, was visiting the Sanofi site, in Neuville-sur-Saône, this Monday, March 7, in the company of several other ministers including that of health, Olivier Véran. On this occasion, he laid the first stone of a new Sanofi building.
-> A major investment of “almost” one billion euros in messenger RNA technology, at the Lyon site, was announced by Paul Hudson, Sanofi’s CEO.
-> Jean Castex announced that France aims to become “the country to be a leader in messenger RNA and in the fight against infectious diseases within ten years. »
6:15 p.m.
After the speeches, a presentation of the RNA technology development project by Sanofi is made to the Prime Minister then the visit ends with a discussion with young researchers from Sanofi but also from the CIRI (International Center for Research in Infectiology) including Bruno Lina.
5:40 p.m.
Prime Minister Jean Castex takes the floor: “I wanted to come here to talk to you about the resilience of our economy, our research and our health. I deeply believe that what we have experienced with the health crisis, what we are experiencing today with the war in Ukraine, all of this has a lot of links with the subjects that bring us together today. Crises are powerful indicators of our weaknesses but also accelerators of progress. (…) The pandemic will have pointed, as everyone can measure, to a certain number of delays, even deeper difficulties (…) Our country has paid a high price for years of deindustrialization and underinvestment in research. We have underinvested collectively and we are paying the price. »
“The crisis requires us to increase our level of ambition”
The Prime Minister regrets that France, “country of Pasteur” has not yet produced a vaccine against Covid: “France has not yet succeeded in marketing a vaccine against the coronavirus even if recent results of Sanofi are very promising. Two French solutions are in the authorization procedure at the French drug agency, he also indicated. The crisis requires us to raise our level of ambition. This is the whole meaning of the decisions taken by the President of the Republic. The government has initiated a profound transformation of our research system and our pharmaceutical industry. »
“Our ambition is clear, the course is set. In the coming years, with France 2030, France must regain its place among the leading scientific nations of the world. Jean Castex aims for the country to be a leader in messenger RNA and in the fight against infectious diseases within ten years. We must re-enchant the French industrial and scientific dream. »
5:30 p.m.: Sanofi’s DGS announces an investment of 1 billion euros in France for messenger RNA
Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi, announces: “We are going to invest 1 billion euros in France for messenger RNA in Lyon. No other country has this investment.”
Lyon and Sanofi have become symbols of the French strategy of “reclaiming our full health and industrial sovereignty”, in the words used by Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the Marcy-l’Etoile site in June 2020, at the end of the 1st confinement where our dependence on drugs and medical devices broke out. Most of the investments will be made on the group’s sites in Lyon.
More information on this big investment of one billion euros here.
Laying of the first stone
Jean Castex also came to lay the first stone of the Evolutive Vaccine Facility (EVF) factory, the construction of which had been announced by Emmanuelle Macron on the occasion of her visit to Marcy-l’Etoile in June 2020. This new unit will make it possible to produce several vaccines simultaneously and will be adaptable in the event of a new health crisis. This investment amounts to 490M euros. 200 jobs should be created on the site with the launch of this new production unit.
Jean Castex greeted with this first stone “a re-engagement of Sanofi in France. Sanofi is a national champion. We defended Sanofi. I said this national trauma that this race for the vaccine had been. I admitted how much the responsibility was collective. It is collectively and together that we must react. »
5:15 p.m.
The ministers are heading towards the site where the EVF building will be erected. They are proceeding with the symbolic laying of the first stone of this unit which will make it possible to produce several vaccines simultaneously and will be very adaptable in times of health crisis. The investment is 490 million euros. 200 jobs will be created on site.
Room for speeches. Paul Hudson begins. He begins by referring to the situation in Ukraine. He explains that all the Sanofi teams are safe and that the concern of the company is to deliver the necessary drugs to patients, in particular against cancer: “400 employees have offered to welcome Ukrainians. The business comes behind, says the DGS of Sanofi. The company has donated 5M euros in charitable aid,” he explains before congratulating the French ministers for having defended sovereignty in Europe. He salutes the French leadership, driving force in this field: “Health is a major theme in Europe, it is incredible what France in Europe can mobilize around health. We are proud to have so many ministers and of course the Prime Minister with us. »
5 p.m.
A visit to the vaccine production unit is offered to Jean Castex and the other ministers. A technician explains the different stages to them: cell culture, viral culture, harvesting and purification, then distribution. This unit produces the vaccine against dengue fever and “new generation” vaccines against rabies and yellow fever.
The building can produce three vaccines. This is already different from the historic “one building, one vaccine” model and an intermediate step towards the future EVF building which will be able to produce several vaccines simultaneously.
The manufacture of the vaccine against rabies, in seven weeks, is detailed to the Prime Minister. Olivier Véran asks a few questions about controls during the inactivation stage. “Did you understand?” Teases Jean Castex, before specifying: “Me, I don’t ask questions…”
Ministers cannot enter the production area because their rabies antibodies have not been checked. They just have to look through a window.
4:15 p.m.
Prime Minister Jean Castex arrives in turn with Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education and Research and Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy. All ministers will meet during a private meeting with Sanofi officials.
The interview should last about twenty minutes.
4:05 p.m.
Arrival of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, at the Sanofi site in Neuville sur Saône. He talks with Olivier Bogillot, director of Sanofi France, and Paul Hudson, general manager of Sanofi and Thomas Triomphe, director of vaccine activities.
Jean Castex is expected this Monday in Neuville-sur-Saône with three of his ministers, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, the Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal as well as the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy Agnès Pannier- Runach.
The Prime Minister had canceled this visit at the last moment, on February 24, due to the start of the war in Ukraine.
Jean Castex will also take advantage of this trip to the Rhône to lay the first stone of the Sanofi group’s “Evolutive Vaccine Facility” factory. The construction of this new factory, which should make it possible to produce several vaccines, simultaneously, in the same production unit, was announced by Emmanuel Macron in June 2020.