Boehringer Ingelheim to expand veterinary vaccine capacity for emerging and transboundary diseases in France

Boehringer Ingelheim announced an additional €100 million investment in its veterinary public health capabilities in Lyon-Jonage, France, to aid governments and public health organizations in managing future emerging and transboundary diseases. Transboundary and emerging diseases are highly contagious and transmissible epidemic diseases of animals. They have the capability for rapid spread to new areas and regions regardless of national borders, with serious socio-economic and public health consequences.

The investment follows an initial €200 million investment in a new veterinary public health (VPH) strategic production center in Lyon, bringing the total investment in the production site to €300 million. The additional investment will enable adaptation of production lines for other emerging diseases, in particular swine and avian vaccines. It also provides for the construction of an administrative and regulatory resource center.

The production site in Lyon is one of the largest bioproduction projects in France, significantly expanding production capacity for antigens and vaccines against certain highly infectious epidemic diseases in animals, such as foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue disease, and increasing storage capacity for strategic reserves such as antigen banks.

The announcement was made during the visit in Lyon of Agnes Pannier-Runacher, the French Minister of State in charge of Industry at the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Recovery. “The announcement made by Boehringer Ingelheim to invest an extra €100 million in the Jonage site is really excellent news, creating around a hundred specialized jobs. It also means that capacity in animal health bioproduction in France is increasing, paving the way for optimized infectious disease preparedness. This is totally aligned with the Government’s current priorities with regards to the health industry in general,” says Agnes Pannier-Runacher.

The Lyon-Jonage vaccine facility is scheduled for completion and start of production in early 2023. It will expand the significant footprint of Boehringer Ingelheim in the Lyon region, with an additional 100 highly-skilled positions.

08/10/2021