As the Choose France summit begins, where several other foreign laboratories have announced a total of more than a billion euros in new investments in France, the French pharmaceutical group Sanofi announced, Monday May 13, in a press release to invest 1.1 billion euros in the production of medicines in France.
“With these unprecedented industrial investments, we remain faithful to our history by once again choosing France,” says Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson in this document.
A new factory
“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. Monoclonal antibodies are used in the treatment of cancers, autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases. According to Sanofi, “several biomedicines in development among Sanofi’s 12 potential blockbusters currently in clinical study could thus be produced in Vitry”, in Val-de-Marne.
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 “anticipates the creation of 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 the management of the group.
An announced total of 500 direct jobs
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 in 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 in Eure.