Bio-production: Fabentech presents its new industrial site
Fabentech, a French biotech specialised in the development and production of polyclonal antibodies, presents its new industrial site located in Saint-Priest, to the south-east of Lyon. The 1,000 m² production site is now operational and will give Fab’entech the capacity to manufacture all of its innovations (biodefense and anti-COVID-19 programme: FabenCOV®) in France. Close-up of this new site, a key asset in the development of the biotech’s activities.
A cutting-edge industrial biomanufacturing site
This new biomanufacturing site will enable the production of polyclonal antibodies. It will be one of the main sites in France with the ability to purify polyclonal antibodies at an industrial scale, a rare and specific expertise forming a key asset in the fight against COVID-19 and other emerging diseases.
It currently employs 15 to 20 people, including industrial, quality assurance and Research & Development teams.
Fab’entech has invested over 4 million euros in the creation of this site in Saint-Priest. To support its FabenCOV® COVID-19 programme, the biotech has also been awarded a prize by the ‘France Relance’ plan (Capacity), bringing in an additional investment of 1.6 million euros. This contribution will allow it to significantly increase its manufacturing capacities to be able to manufacture its COVID-19 treatment, FabenCOV®, available to patients as soon as possible. 8 additional employees will be recruited shortly to work on the site.
The challenge of a rapid and large-scale production on national territory
Manufacture on French soil of its therapeutic solutions is at the heart of Fab’entech’s strategy as they intend to have control over the entire value chain on national soil and, as such, they have been identified as a strategic company in the field of antidotes. Fab’entech is indeed one of the only biotechs in Europe to be equipped with high-performance industrial facilities allowing the rapid, large-scale production of its polyclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19.
We are delighted to present our production unit which will enable us to accelerate the availability of FabenCOV®, our treatment against COVID-19 currently under development. We are also proud to be contributing to the development of the local economic network with the creation of new jobs, as well as to national independence in the face of pandemic threats
concludes Sébastien Iva, Chair of Fab’entech.
About polyclonal antibodies
Fab’entech’s know-how is based on a safe and tested polyclonal antibody technology, initially developed by Sanofi Pasteur and enhanced for more than 10 years by the industrial and Research & Development teams at Fab’entech. Administered at the hospital, these antibodies replace those that the patient has not had the time to produce naturally. They recognise and neutralise the virus or toxin in only a few minutes, stopping the progression of the disease or intoxication. The benefit of a polyclonal response to an antigen presentation is the ability to neutralise the virus even in the case of a mutation. The efficacy of the polyclonal antibodies developed by Fab’entech has already been proven on other emerging diseases such as H5N1 and Ebola for which the WHO had appealed to the biotech.
