Gidy, Loiret, France, November 27, 2024 – Servier, an international and independent pharmaceutical group, today announced the inauguration of “Bio-S”, its first unit dedicated to the production of biological medicines from its R&D pipeline, located at its historic site in Gidy, Loiret.
The result of an investment of €86 million, this new bioproduction unit will enable Servier to produce active ingredients in France derived from living cells for its preclinical and clinical studies as well as sterile and injectable finished products, thus ensuring strategic autonomy for the Group’s clinical trials.
For the Group, having its own biotechnology unit will allow clinical proof of concept of biological medicines candidates to be provided more quickly. This agility will ultimately make it possible to accelerate the development of these innovative therapies and quickly make them available to patients. Biological medicines represent nearly 60% of treatments in development worldwide. However, France produces only 10% of those developed in Europe.
“We have chosen to invest heavily in a bioproduction unit, in order to strengthen our commitment to accelerate therapeutic progress for the benefit of patients. While we have a pipeline of 61 research and development projects, 50% of which are of potential biological medicines candidates, this strategic investment illustrates our Group’s desire to consolidate its unique value chain in France and Europe, from research to industry, and is fully in line with our 2030 strategic objectives to make Servier a recognized and innovative player in oncology.”
Olivier Laureau, President of Servier
Closely linked to Servier’s next-generation antibody center of excellence based in Denmark, Bio-S reinforces Servier’s ability to develop new precision treatments based on therapeutic antibodies, bispecific antibodies, and antibody-conjugated drugs (ACD) for patients with rare cancers.
“Biological medicines represent a new generation of therapies, based on a biological source as the raw material for the active ingredient. They are a major therapeutic innovation. By controlling our value chain from Research to Production, we put Servier in a unique position to develop innovative therapeutic solutions faster, one of the key issues for patients.”
Claude Bertrand, Executive Vice-President Research and Development at Servier
Bio-S has created around sixty direct jobs, also demonstrating Servier’s commitment to developing skills and expertise in the bioproduction sector in France. Servier is also a founding member of the France BioLead alliance and Campus Biotech Digital and actively participates in the development of the bioproduction sector in France, thus contributing to the attractiveness and competitiveness of the sector.
Key figures for Bio-S, Servier Group’s bioproduction unit:
This day is also marked by the official launch of the extension work of the Clinical Support Unit (CSU), intended to manufacture of the Group’s experimental drugs. An additional investment of 43 million euros granted by the Group, also at its Gidy site in Loiret. Unique in Europe, Bio-S and CSU (a total of €130 million invested) bring together in one place all the expertise needed to ensure the clinical supply of biological medicines, from the clinical biological active ingredient to the distribution of clinical batches.