The French pharmaceutical group Sanofi announced on Monday an investment of more than a billion euros in the production of medicines in France, with the construction of a new factory on its site in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne). ).
(AFP / ALAIN JOCARD)
“In Vitry-sur-Seine, Sanofi will invest one billion euros to build a new factory which will double the production capacity of monoclonal antibodies on the site,” indicates the group in a press release published on the day of the 7th Choose summit. France, where several other foreign laboratories are announcing a total of more than a billion euros in new investments in France.
The Minister Delegate for Health and Prevention, Frédéric Valletoux, “welcomes this announcement as well as the investments revealed by Pfizer and AstraZeneca”, in a reaction sent to AFP on Monday.
“This is a new demonstration of France’s attractiveness for health industries, particularly because of the dynamism of its ecosystem in terms of research and innovation,” he said.
Monoclonal antibodies are used in the treatment of cancers, autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases.
The group indicates that “several biomedicines in development among Sanofi’s 12 potential blockbusters currently undergoing clinical studies could thus be produced in Vitry”, a site which has switched over the last decade from chemical drugs to biological treatments.
The laboratory aims to become a world champion in immunology by targeting diseases such as asthma, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and chronic bronchitis.
Thanks to this investment, Sanofi plans to create 350 direct jobs in Vitry-sur-Seine, where 288 cuts are planned in research and development dedicated to oncology, a sector where success is considered insufficient by management. of the group.
Two other sites will benefit, to a lesser extent, from this new investment of 1.1 billion euros, “historic” for France according to Sanofi, and which “runs until 2030”, indicated to AFP the president of Sanofi France, Audrey Derveloy.
On the Trait site (Normandy), Sanofi will invest 100 million euros “to support the launch of future biological drugs and vaccines, as well as the strong development of Dupixent”, its flagship drug indicated in several inflammatory diseases, adds the group . “This investment corresponds to 150 direct jobs,” according to Sanofi.
Finally, in Lyon Gerland, 10 million euros are planned to produce the monoclonal antibody Tzield, approved since 2022 in the United States to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes.
Sanofi expects a gradual increase in sales of this biomedicine (produced from biological substances) which it acquired in 2023 by purchasing the American biotech Provention Bio. The active substance, currently produced in the United States, will be repatriated to France.
This series of investments is in addition to the 2.5 billion euros already committed by Sanofi since the Covid-2019 pandemic to finance in particular the construction in Neuville-sur-Saône, near Lyon, of a scalable factory capable of here next year to produce several vaccines simultaneously, and that of “the largest production unit in Europe for influenza vaccines” in Val-de-Reuil (Eure).