£10m facility reinforces Novasep's commitment to bioconjugation

A fully integrated antibody drug conjugate (ADC) facility is to be built at Novasep's Le Mans site in France, complementing the company's current ADC offering with full bioconjugation services to meet increasing market demand.

Commissioning of the facility is scheduled for Q2 2016. It will provide contract manufacturing in batch sizes from a few milligrams to 600g to ADC drug developers during clinical trial and commercial development phases.

“Combining chemistry and biology is not a given. Novasep is one of the few CMOs able to produce both commercial scale ADCs payloads and monoclonal antibodies,” said Thierry Van Nieuwenhove, president of Novasep’s Synthesis BU. “Customers are now searching for a simplified supply chain to produce their ADC and other bio-conjugate drug substances. By integrating our R&D, analytical and manufacturing services within a single unit, we can give customers flexibility, assurance of supply and continuity in supply chains.”

Novasep’s €10M investment in clinical- and commercial-scale ADC conjugation is a natural extension to its existing CMO offering and leverages its unique purification technologies. Novasep’s new ADC facility, the design of which design is now complete, will be capable of producing ADCs in full compliance with the highest standards in quality, health, environmental and industrial safety.

“This move is part of our 'back to basics' strategy, forging Novasep’s re-focus on growing core businesses,” said Dr Michel Spagnol, chairman and CEO of Novasep. “We are proud to see our Le Mans site continuing its growth in one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most exciting development areas.”