Toulouse: this new factory will produce therapeutic antibodies
Therapeutic antibodies, produced in a new factory next to the Toulouse Oncopole. The project of the biopharmaceutical firm Evotec is subject to a public inquiry until July 8.
An ultramodern plant for the production of therapeutic antibodies: this is the Bono project, led by the company Evotec, already deployed on the road from Spain to Toulouse, on the former Sanofi site. It is subject to public inquiry until Friday, July 8. The plant, whose commissioning is scheduled for 2024, will accommodate between 120 and 250 people. Located within the Curie campus of Evotec, it will occupy 11,600 m² of floor space.
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In November 2021, Pierre Cooremans (CEO of Fair – Evotec Biologics Europe) indicated to the Dépêche du Midi that “the construction site is planned over 18 months, if we count the validation process. Nine months for the construction of the building, 12 months for the equipment”.
Used in cancer treatment
“We are going to make cell clones,” explains Pierre Cooremans. “This ensures the ability to create the same product over time, because it is this cell that will generate antibodies”. These antibodies are used, among other things, for therapies against “Covid-19, malaria, hepatitis B…”. By “stimulating a biological reaction in the body”, these antibodies also have applications in the field of oncology and cancer treatments. “It’s a development of our original activity,” he says. “One of the therapeutic axes on which we are working in Toulouse is cancer. Our location is an asset. We can thus develop partnerships with the Oncopole”.
The managing director of Just – Evotec Biologics Europe specifies: “these are partnerships for obtaining samples of tumours, diseases or blood, on which we will be able to work”. The quality of the samples “allows experiments to be carried out that could not be done in other circumstances”.