Mini factories on wheels. In the production area of Sanofi’s new factory, located on the banks of the Saône in Neuville-sur-Saône (Rhône), in the Lyon region, almost everything is mobile and modular. Including the large dark blue inflatable partition that, at the time of our visit, separated the site into two distinct spaces. “If necessary, it can be dismantled in an hour”explains Thomas Triomphe, head of vaccines at Sanofi.
The only fixed elements: the large metal panels on the walls, these “docking stations” which, connected to the various mobile equipment, will transport the raw materials needed to manufacture vaccines and supply the machines with electricity, water or oxygen. “In fact, you have to imagine this factory as a Lego game, where the elements used are adapted according to the specific manufacturing processes of each product. For example, a vaccine may require equipment A, B, C, while another may require equipment X, Y, Z.Triomphe explains.
This flexibility, praised by Emmanuel Macron, who came to inaugurate the new 24,000 square metre building on Tuesday 10 September, is the central point. “Four years ago we were in the middle of Covid. We realized what the loss of sovereignty cost. (…) We told ourselves that we needed to be able to adapt to innovations much more quickly. “, The President of the Republic stressed that the factory will thus make it possible to produce up to four vaccines or biomedicines simultaneously, regardless of the technologies used, whether they are live attenuated virus vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, messenger RNA vaccines or treatments resulting from biotechnology.
“More modern, greener and more connected”
By opting for this modular concept, Sanofi is breaking the rules of the pharmaceutical industry. Traditionally, once a vaccine or biomedicine industrial site has been built, it is only designed for the production of the same product or the same technology. Changing its use to include the manufacture of another drug, due to the complexity of the production processes, the costs and the authorisations required by health authorities, is often such a challenge that manufacturers prefer to build a new building from scratch.
In contrast, the Neuville-sur-Saône plant will be able to switch from one product or technology to another in a few days or weeks. In the event of a shortage or pandemic, the site will be able to respond more quickly to health emergencies and massively increase its production capacities by reconfiguring the space. The site will be able to produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines per year. “It is not just about a new, more modern, ecological and connected factory, but about a revolution in the way we will manufacture vaccines and biomedicines in the coming decades”stresses Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi.
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