The recent health crisis linked to COVID-19 recalled the importance of quickly designing a vaccine capable of curbing a pandemic. In this planetary fight against the virus, Sanofi had not been on the front line against the coronavirus, not having good weapons to win the battle.
Since then, the French group has learned from this failure and put the double bites to satisfy the desire for health sovereignty dear to President Macron.
Last September, the President of the Republic had already come to inaugurate the Modulus factory, in Neuville-sur-Saône, north of Lyon, mega factory dedicated to the production of vaccines and biomedications. Today, the pharmaceutical group has laid a new piece to the puzzle by inaugurating its new unit of excellence called XL on the site of Marcy-l’Etoile, west of the Metropolis of Lyon.
During this inauguration, Fabrice Pannekoucke, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, praised “A real flagship on a national scale, even on a global scale“.
“Sanofi has made strong commitments for 5 years to actively contribute to the health sovereignty of France”confirms Charles Wolf, CEO Sanofi France. “This new unit of excellence entirely devoted to the acceleration of our research & development for vaccines is fully part of our innovation strategy in which France already plays a major role.”
New Sanofi factory: an investment of 120 million euros
This building was designed to bring together in the same space all the activities inherent in the development of a vaccine with an end: to strengthen collaborations between the scientific teams of the Center of Excellence of the Messenger RNA of Sanofi. The building, with an area of 14,000 m square meters, demanded an investment of 120 million euros, including 8 million euros in the Feder fund (European regional development fund) and the support of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
-The Marcy-l’étoile complex, ultra modern and digital, will accelerate the search for advanced immunological solutions to design innovative treatments based on messenger RNA. With, ultimately, the prospect of protecting millions of people from ten infectious diseases, especially against emerging infectious diseases. To achieve this, Lyonian scientists will integrate artificial intelligence in research, including Learning machine models.
“Our XL unit is a major asset in order to accelerate the development of innovative vaccines for millions of patients around the world”Besie Jean-François Toussaint, world of Sanofi vaccine research and development world. “Its versatility, associated with the expertise of our now combined scientific teams, are all advantages that will allow us to strengthen our excellence in research and development”.
The largest R&D center in France in France, and one of the most important in the world, will mobilize 900 researchers. The West Lyon site already houses an important production unit. Indeed, on site, the group produced and formulates vaccines against eight diseases: polyomelitis, hepatitis A, whooping, diphtheria, influenza, rage, tetanus and typhoid fever. In total, nearly 3,200 employees work on the Marcy-l’étoile platform.
NAMELY
Unlike traditional vaccines produced with a small fragment of viruses or bacteria, Messenger RNA vaccines, developed in particular on the Marcy-l’Étoile site, use an innovative technology highlighted during the COVID crisis. The principle: activate the immune system, and therefore produce antibodies to combat a pathogen or certain types of cancer, by ordering certain cells in the body to produce a “copy” of targeted viral or bacterial protein. This copy – or antigen – recognized by the immune system will activate a defense system and remember it to push future future infections.
