Lonza’s large-scale mammalian site in Visp, Switzerland continues ramp-up process

Located in the southwest of Switzerland, Lonza’s Visp site continues to make progress in ramping up and commencing commercial operations at its highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredient (HPAPI) plant and the company’s new large-scale mammalian drug substance facility, with ramp-up activities in advanced stages and full commercial operations expected to start in mid-2026.

The Swiss-headquartered contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) is looking to position the Visp site to meet growing market demand with their HPAPI and large-scale mammalian drug substance facilities, as well as advanced expansion projects for bioconjugates. Visp is meant to consolidate demand across stages at a single Lonza site, from clinical development to launch and scale-up, with 1,000L, 2,000L and 20,000L bioreactors.

In 2025, Lonza’s large-scale 20,000L expansion achieved successful initial Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) runs. As part of the company’s qualitative Q1 2026 business update earlier this month, Lonza CFO Philippe Deecke said the Visp site continues its ramp-up process with the production of different GMP batches.

“Revenue growth contribution is expected to start in the second half of 2026 as part of a multi-year ramp-up of commercial output,” Deecke told analysts during a May 8 call. “We also see good progress at our large-scale drug product fill and finish facility in Stein [Switzerland], with production expected to start in 2027, while we expect our large-scale bioconjugation site in Visp to start production latest in 2028.”

Construction activities for additional multipurpose bioconjugation suites in Visp are advancing on schedule, supporting the planned start-up of new commercial capacity in 2028, according to the company. Also, a customer-dedicated bioconjugation suite at Lonza’s Ibex Dedicate Biopark has completed main commissioning, qualification, and validation activities and reached operational readiness, remaining on track to commence manufacturing operations in 2026.

Vacaville large-scale mammalian site

Deecke told analysts this month that Lonza is seeing “healthy demand” for its small-scale and large-scale mammalian assets, including the CDMO’s 956,000-square-foot site in Vacaville, California — one of the world’s largest biologics facilities dedicated to late-stage clinical and commercial mammalian manufacturing, acquired in 2024 from Roche for $1.2 billion.

“Operational executions remain strong, and we have successfully tech transferred the first non-Roche product and produced the first GMP batches,” Deecke said. “The team is already preparing the site for the introduction of the next non-Roche product.”

At the Vacaville facility, Lonza is “making good progress” in the ongoing upgrades required to “increase the operational flexibility needed to operate as a CDMO site, with additional upgrade measures requiring targeted shutdowns taking place in the second half of 2026” — leading to a lower sales contribution in the second half of this year, according to Deecke. “This is expected to have an impact on the revenue and the margins for the second half.”

In 2025, the first phase of capital expenditure started at the Vacaville site. Additional investments are planned over the next two to three years to ensure the site — which includes 12,000L and 25,000L stainless steel bioreactors for a total capacity of 332,000L — is fully equipped, including automation system upgrades, to support next-generation therapies and transition to a multi-product CDMO facility.

“Customer interest in Vacaville remains high, and we expect additional contract signing over the course of the year in addition to the five contracts reported to you in January 2026,” Deecke said, while confirming that the company doesn’t expect Vacaville to reach peak sales until the early 2030s.

US, global manufacturing landscape

William Blair analysts contend that Lonza’s available U.S. capacity and global manufacturing footprint are major competitive advantages. In a January 2026 note to investors, the analysts said Lonza has an “unmatched” CDMO footprint in terms of both technical and global reach that includes six sites in Europe, five in the U.S., and two in Asia.

Deecke told analysts earlier this month that Lonza remains confident that its “well-diversified” global manufacturing footprint with large capacities in the U.S., Europe, and Singapore have positioned it to support customer requirements today and in the future.

Overall, he described demand for CDMO services as remaining “healthy” in 2026 with Lonza seeing the industry as “part of the solution in this gradual shift towards regionalized supply chains” with large pharma and biotech companies continuing to outsource manufacturing.

At the same time, Deecke warned that “in light of the significant recent U.S. investment announcements from large pharmaceutical company, with only a small part of investments going into manufacturing assets, outsourcing decisions may at times take a bit longer to conclude.”

Big Pharma investments are “likely more a shift in global CapEx spend towards the U.S. rather than a change in outsourcing strategy, with an overall increase in capital investments into manufacturing,” according to Deecke. When it comes to biotech companies, which are about half of Lonza’s revenue, he said they remain an important customer segment and will “continue to rely heavily on CDMOs to minimize capital requirements into manufacturing.”