A new base in Boston
Seqens has a new lab in the US to showcase at DCAT Week . We spoke with CEO Pierre Luzeau
The major news from French CDMO Seqens at DCAT Week this year will be the opening of its new ‘ Seqens Boston R & D Centre ’ in Devens , near Boston . This replaces a former lab in Devens and all of the employees there have already moved across . Covering 1,400 m 2 and built at a cost of $ 5 million , it will be the North American flagship for the company ’ s ten-strong global network of R & D centres .
The new investment , Seqens said , “ expands project flow , enhances quality and accelerates development of APIs and excipients , including
Luzeau – New lab will better address innovators lipids used for the manufacture of RNA vaccines ”, as well as materials for medical devices . The company plans to double the number of scientists there by 2026 .
According to CEO and president Pierre Luzeau , since most of the pharmaceutical and biotech market is in the US , it was important for Seqens to set up a brand new R & D centre to serve customers and promote its R & D service there . The investment was also made in part to demonstrate the company ’ s commitment to the US market .
“ Seqens already had a presence in the US in most of its activities but it was necessary to better address innovators working on NCEs ,” he says . “ The new lab will be able not only to serve our customers from the Massachusetts area but also to broaden our portfolio across the East Coast .”
This is a general purpose laboratory for the development of early stage products , covering most of the chemistries its US clients will need , as well as being able to produce batches of up to tens of kilos for pre-clinical trials . When Seqens needs to carry out specific analysis , it also relies on the central laboratory in France . Seqens Boston R & D Centre , says Luzeau , has its own customer base , mainly in small pharma and biotechs . Industrialisation of projects from there could take place in any of the company ’ s assets ; the development operation at nearby Newburyport , the former PCI Synthesis , is just one operation among many in that respect .
Global network
In all , Seqens has 24 plants including seven cGMP , FDA inspected plants in Europe , Israel ( the former Wavelength Pharmaceuticals ) and the US for commercial production with combined capacity of over 1,000 / m 3 . These manufacture APIs and intermediates from kilo to multi-tonne quantities from the earliest phases through to commercialisation .
“ We have massively invested in these plants , so we can propose to the customer a network of units that are capable of producing the most complex molecules one can think of ,” Luzeau says . In addition to these , there are two more pre-GMP sites in France that offer back-integration of raw material and regulatory starting materials
Seqens claims to have the largest range of technologies among CDMOs in the market , at both R & D- and commercial-scale . Notable capabilities in chemistry include cryogenics down to -80 ° C , hydrogenation at up to 90 bars and 230 ° C , as well as large-scale preparative chromatography for impurity isolation .
On the formulation side , the company is active , among many other things , in solid-state services like polymorphism screening and salt screening . It claims to have put a “ significant focus on advanced analytical solutions to support and guide process development for complex APIs ”.
Among the technologies Luzeau most highlights are three , which are all seen as levers for growth and new business and which will see continuing investment :
• HPAPIs , in which Seqens has the largest capacity globally and
ESTABLISHED 1981