PHARMACEUTICALS offers containment down to 100 ng / m 3 OEL from kilo scale to 200 kg batch size
• Flow chemistry , where it has a newly opened pilot plant at Porcheville in France
• Biocatalysis based on largescale enzyme production capabilities , optimisable through proprietary directed evolution technologies , with 25 researchers in France Another key capability is in the drug delivery area , where Seqens supplies , among other things , its Expansorb range of GMP bioresorbable copolymers for controlled release of injectable drugs ; Vitamin E TPGS as an excipient ; and custom lipids of many types , which are used to improve drug and RNA bioavailability . “ We are one of the few players in the polymers in the pharmaceuticals field . We have enlarged our range of products and increased our capacity recently ,” Luzeau says . A new facility will open at Aramon next year for polymers . The company produces lipids both at the Seqens ’ Lab in Porcheville and in Boston , where it has five kilo labs and a pilot plant dedicated to small molecules , lipids and polymers .
Record year
The CDMO market has been strong in general for many years and there are no signs of it slowing down any time soon as far as Luzeau is concerned . The company had a record year in 2022 , even though it has seen continuous growth in sales and profitability for the past 20 years . 2023 is also expected to be a strong year for growth .
“ We will also continue to invest . We invested € 100 million in our plants in 2022 and will invest € 150 million in 2023 . It shows that we have a commitment not just to improving our facilities year-after-year but also to invest in our strategic development ,” Luzeau says .
This year ’ s total will comprise about two thirds on strategic projects and capacity expansions in response to strong demand ; the other third will go on compliance . Perhaps the most symbolic project as well as one of the largest is a new , 10,000 tonnes / year paracetamol plant in France .
The origins of this plant lay in the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent disruption to the supply , which greatly concerned the government of essential APIs . Following a year of R & D studies at Seqens ’ Lab , Seqens officially launched the project in July 2021 , in partnership with Sanofi and UPSA , supported by the France Relance programme . It is due to be commissioned this year and to come onstream in 2025 .
Seqens was already the world leader in paracetamol , with two plants in China . To make this work in France , it developed new continuous synthesis processes to make the facility viable . It will be located on the Roussillon platform , where Rhodia closed the last domestic production facility in 2008 and close to other Seqens ’ pharmaceutical activities , notably a new GMP lab .
Paracetamol was often cited as the kind of product that had gone to Asia and would never come back . Now it is and , Luzeau notes , Seqens is also reshoring some other molecules , like propofol and rocuronium bromide , all of which are in short supply . Between all of its activities and ongoing trends in the market , the outlook thus remains bright . ●
Candice Du Chayla
GROUP COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
SEQENS k + 33 7 61 80 62 33 J candice . duchayla @ seqens . com j www . seqens . com
The new facility at Devens