Lonza, a Basel, Switzerland-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), plans to build a large-scale commercial spray-drying facility at its Bend, Oregon site to expand manufacturing capacity for spray-dried dispersions used to improve drug bioavailability.

The facility will include two PSD-4 spray-drying units along with infrastructure for solvent handling and storage. The project is expected to be completed in 2029 and initially will create more than 80 jobs, according to the announcement.

The expansion will add commercial-scale capacity to the Bend site’s existing particle-engineering operations, which include spray drying for pharmaceutical formulations with solubility and bioavailability challenges. Lonza said the facility will support customers transitioning spray-dried dispersion programs from development and clinical manufacturing into commercial production.

The project also includes energy-efficient utility and process systems and enhanced emission-control technologies. According to Lonza, the systems are designed to reduce overall facility energy demand.

The Bend investment will give Lonza additional U.S. commercial manufacturing capacity for spray-dried dispersions while complementing its existing clinical-scale capabilities. The company said the project will support demand for particle-engineering technologies as pharmaceutical developers work with increasingly complex molecules and compounds with poor solubility.

The expansion comes as Lonza continues to add capabilities across its development and manufacturing network. In August, the company launched a rapid media prototyping service offering non-GMP custom powder batches of 1 to 10 kilograms and liquid batches of 1 to 100 liters, with target turnaround times of up to 10 working days. The service is intended to support early-stage bioprocess development before larger-scale manufacturing decisions are made.