GENEVA– KBI Biopharma SA (KBI) and Selexis SA, both JSR Life Sciences companies, held a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday at their new state-of-the-art facility in Geneva, Switzerland. Designed to directly serve the increased demand for biopharmaceutical drug development and manufacturing in Europe, the facility will support an integrated, end-to-end process of Selexis’ cell line development (CLD) services along with KBI’s contract development and manufacturing services for industry clients throughout the immediate region and beyond.
As demand for innovative biologics and effective biosimilars to treat cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases continue to rise in Europe and around the world, developing and manufacturing these and other therapeutics, remains complex and time-consuming. By co-locating in one facility, KBI and Selexis will deliver trusted, streamlined, and cost-effective solutions to help clients confidently advance their investigational therapies.
“The opening of our Geneva facility last month was a major milestone for KBI and Selexis, and we are excited to come together today and commemorate this great achievement,” said Mark W. Womack, CEO of KBI and Selexis. “KBI and Selexis have a long history of success together. Our collaboration has accelerated more than 60 drug development programs in Europe and worldwide. Integrating Selexis’ world-renowned CLD services with KBI’s process development innovation and excellence, as well as clinical and commercial manufacturing experience provides our clients with seamless, cost-effective, and reliable development and manufacturing for their products. Our aim has always been to help our clients bring novel and effective therapies to the clinic and the market faster. This facility will help advance that mission.”
The ~94,000 square-foot facility will house new laboratories to support Selexis’ unique technical cell line workflows and KBI’s process development and cGMP manufacturing and quality control with a suite of analytical testing laboratories and cGMP single-use manufacturing trains. The expansion will generate over 300 positions in development, operations, and quality assurance. The ribbon-cutting, held on July 5, was attended by the following:
- Luca Bolliger, VP of the Swiss Biotech Association and President of the Swiss Biotech Success Stories Jury
- Mario Rodriguez, Mayor of Plan-les-Ouates
- Fabienne Fischer, State Councilor – Member of the Geneva government, Head of the economy and employment department (DEE)
“I am delighted with the development of KBI and Selexis’ activities in Geneva, which contributes to the development of the life sciences sector in Geneva and reinforces our local ecosystem,” said Councilor Fischer. “It also demonstrates the potential and attractiveness of our region.”
