Frederic Desdouits Managing Director CDMO SEQENS

Seqens, a contract development and manufacturing organization of pharmaceutical synthesis services and provider of specialty ingredients, is expanding high-potency manufacturing at its facilities in France. Frederic Desdouits, Managing Director CDMO, Seqens, detailed the expansion at the DCAT Week ’19 Member Company Announcement Forum, which was held March 18, 2019 in New York.

Seqens is the new organization of Novacap Group and all its business units, which took the Seqens name in 2018. The company is investing approximately $30 million for a new facility, which will consist of two units, located in the same building, a smaller one named UPP10 and a larger one named UPP30, to handle production of potent molecules from tens of kilograms to several hundreds. The new facility is in Villeneuve-La-Garenne, France, located outside of Paris. Construction started at the beginning of the year and will be completed by the fall of 2019. The modular unit is specifically designed to be flexible and allow for future investments as customer needs evolve. Initial capacity of the unit will be 10–15 tons per year.

The potent-compound manufacturing unit will maintain a maximum level of particles in the working environment of 100 ng per cubic meter to allow for the production of SafeBridge Category 3 potent compounds, which is classified as molecules with occupational exposure limits ranging from approximately 30 ng per cubic meter to 10 μg per cubic meter.

Desdouits explained the expansion is the result of a long-standing relationship with one of the company’s clients that is moving into two large Phase III programs in Europe and the US.