Sanofi invests €350mn in new vaccine facility in Toronto

Investing €5.5bn in research and development in 2017 and situated in 36 countries, pharmaceutical company Sanofi is now set to invest €350mn for the development of a new state-of-the-art vaccine facility at the Sanofi Pasteur Canadian headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.

The investment bolsters the company's Canadian operations, its commitment to advancing public health around the world and is one of the largest-ever investments by the company in a single building.

Pasteur's Canadian facility has supported numerous scientific breakthroughs while making significant public health contributions. The Toronto site was home to the world's first large-scale commercial insulin production and was the sole supplier of the diabetes treatment to Canadians until the 1980s.

Additionally, the facility also produced a highly accessible antitoxin for diphtheria, the leading public health threat to Canadian children in the early 1900s and was an important partner in the eradication of polio in North America and smallpox around the world.

The move follows on from Sanofi’s acquisition of Bioverativ in January for $11.6bn and biopharmaceutical company Ablynx for $4.8bn, in order to strengthen its position on the global stage.  

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"Canada has a strong legacy in the research and development of vaccines.  With this investment, Sanofi is renewing our longstanding commitment to making Canada central in our effort to protect and improve human health across the globe," explained David Loew, Executive Vice President and Head of Sanofi Pasteur.

"Vaccines save three million lives every year and this new facility will take us one step closer to a world where no one suffers or dies from a vaccine-preventable disease."

The new facility will allow Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines global business unit of Sanofi, to meet the growing demand of five-component acellular pertussis (5-acP) antigen. Upon completion in 2021, the new building will also be equipped to produce the antigens used in the diphtheria and tetanus vaccines. 

"This project is one of the most important investments for the Sanofi global industrial network," added Philippe Luscan, Executive Vice President, Global Industrial Affairs, Sanofi. "It demonstrates our continued commitment to manufacturing excellence and to better serving our vaccines portfolio to people all over the world."