[ad_1]
The president of the United States, Donald Trump (74), has assured his nation from his bed in the Walter Reed military clinic: “The vaccines will arrive at any moment.” Before the elections on November 3, it is probably not enough. Health experts in your government don’t expect vaccines to be widely available until the middle of next year. But one thing is certain: a drug assembly line in Switzerland will play a crucial role in ensuring that a promising vaccine is produced and distributed to consumer markets in record time.
There is even talk of building the world’s fastest drug assembly line at the Visp VS Lonza facility. The Swiss chemical giant is spending 70 million francs on the ultra-modern production line on which the final construction works are taking place, according to the “Tages-Anzeiger”. Production is scheduled to begin in February; 300 million doses of vaccine are planned to be produced, filled and shipped in Visp per year.
CHF 70 million venture investment
For Lonza, the new plant is also a risky investment. It is unclear whether the vaccine developed under contract license by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna, which is still in the experimental testing stage, will ever be approved. And apparently it is yet to be seen whether the system of the so-called Ibex complex, which costs around 1 billion francs, can even become operational.
Lonza has big plans there that will take the Upper Valais location into the future: Visp will become the world’s fastest drug workbench, accepting production from interested global companies, thereby greatly accelerating launch. of new drugs.
Five years ago, Lonza plants employed nearly 2,600 people, by the end of the year it should be more than 4,000. (kes)
