Sanofi will invest more than 1 billion euros (S$1.45 billion) at three facilities in France as it ramps up production in its home country.
The drugmaker will spend most of the funds at its Vitry-sur-Seine site, doubling the location’s existing capacity to make monoclonal antibodies, according to a statement on Monday (May 13). It plans to use that plant to make medicines for treating ailments including asthma, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
Shares of Sanofi fell as much as 3 per cent in early trading. The stock is down nearly 8 per cent in the past 12 months.
Sanofi said 100 million euros will be invested at a location in Normandy for formulating and filling biologic medicines and assembling and packaging products. That will help with vaccines as well as medicines such as blockbuster therapy Dupixent, as Sanofi looks to extend its use to patients with a chronic lung disorder.
Sanofi also plans to invest 10 million euros to locate the production of diabetes medicine Tzield in France, it said.
Separately, Sanofi said on Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration will conduct a priority review of Dupixent for treating adolescents with the upper respiratory ailment known as chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis. The FDA’s decision could come in September, it said. The drug already treats adults with that illness.
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The trio of new facilities should create about 500 jobs in France, Sanofi said. Including other recent investments, the company has pledged to spend more than 3.5 billion euros in France to produce medicines and vaccines, it said. That company carries out about 60 per cent of its global production in the European Union, it said.
“France is, and always will be, at the heart of Sanofi’s strategy,” chief executive officer Paul Hudson said in the statement. BLOOMBERG
