Heavy blow to Lonza at the facility in Valais: Moderna stopped the production of the Covid vaccine in Visp

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Hard blow to Lonza at Visp in Valais: Partner Moderna will stop production of the mRNA active ingredient for the Covid-19 vaccine from the third quarter of 2023. This is the announcement made public by the US company Moderna on its website on Tuesday. The vaccine manufacturer justifies this decision by saying that the demand for vaccines has decreased due to the transition from the pandemic to the endemic market.

The statement continued: “Moderna expects to be able to meet the demand that Lonza currently meets at its internal manufacturing facility in Norwood, MA, between 2024 and 2025.” Moderna also plans to create additional manufacturing capacity once new mRNA production facilities in the UK, Canada and Australia are completed. According to Moderna, this will also be the case in 2025. Moderna continues to produce the active ingredient at Rovi in ​​Spain.

Lonza is considering employee relocation

“Lonza’s activities at Visp were crucial to enabling Moderna to offer its vaccine worldwide, including in Switzerland,” the vaccine maker continues.

So what do people think about this on Visp? «Lonza is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to controlling the epidemic by collaborating with Moderna. “Discussions regarding the details of terminating the collaboration are still ongoing,” spokeswoman Lara Marzo told Blick.

More than 5,000 employees work at the Visp location in Valais. There are also around 1,500 temporary workers. The spokesperson could not say at this time how many employees were affected by the production halt and the end of the collaboration with Moderna. «Lonza is examining options to redirect employees to other client programs and growth projects. “In the long term, Lonza remains convinced of the high therapeutic and commercial potential of its mRNA platform.”

Are there any layoffs? How much sales share did the collaboration with Moderna require for the Lonza Group? Will investments in further expansion of the Lonza location be stopped now? Have the projects even been closed? Speaker Marzo did not want to answer all these questions Tuesday.

The partnership with Moderna has been a boost for Lonza’s position in Valais. And also for the Visp community. Lonza began production of the Moderna vaccine active ingredient in November 2020. A few months later three production lines were already operating. More followed. More than 200 employees were initially hired.

CEO’s departure caused prices to fall

Lonza dropped earlier in the week: CEO Pierre-Alain Ruffieux (53) will resign at the end of September 2023. The drug supplier did not give a reason. The deciding factor in the departure may have been Lonza’s recent disappointing operational performance. Accustomed to success, the Moderna partner found itself in difficult waters after the Corona explosion. In mid-July, the company lowered its full-year forecast for half-year figures.

Lonza expert Daniel Buchta from Zürcher Kantonalbank said of Ruffieux’s departure: “After the disappointing operational development and poor capital market communication in 2023, in our opinion, CEO Ruffieux was trusted.”

+++ Update to follow++

Source :Blick