Lonza Plans Hike In Potent Compounds

The Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza will invest more than $64 million to construct a plant in Visp, Switzerland, for the production of highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients. Lonza claims the plant, to be completed in 2009, will make it the world's sole contract manufacturer capable of producing highly potent compounds at a large scale. Uwe Böhlke, head of Lonza's exclusive synthesis business, says the project also will provide capacity to supplement Lonza's small-molecule facilities in Visp and Conshohocken, Pa., where capacity utilization is high.