Lonza has completed its $1.2-billion acquisition of a large-scale biologics manufacturing site in Vacaville, California, from Roche’s Genentech. The deal was announced in March 2024. 

The Vacaville facility has a total bioreactor capacity of approximately 330,000 liters. Under the purchase agreement, approximately 750 Genentech employees at the Vacaville facility will be employed by Lonza.  

Lonza plans to invest an additional CHF 500 million ($586 million) to upgrade the Vacaville facility and enhance capabilities for producing mammalian biologic therapies. The products currently manufactured at the site by Roche will be supplied by Lonza, with committed volumes over the medium term and phasing out over time as the site transitions to serve alternative customers. 

The Vacaville site expands Lonza’s capacity for mammalian manufacturing in the US and creates a West Coast commercial manufacturing presence, which complements Lonza’s existing East Coast manufacturing site in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The company also has mammalian operations its sites in:  Visp, Switzerland; Slough, the UK; Porriño, Spain; and Tuas, Singapore. 

Source: Lonza