Lonza Secures Important Manufacturing Contract Using its Proprietary Microreactor Technology

Lonza Group Ltd announces, that it has won an important manufacturing contract with a big pharma company.

27/05/09 Lonza Group Ltd announces, that it has won an important manufacturing contract with a big pharma company. The manufacture of the product is based on Lonza’s proprietary microreactor technology (MRT), enabling scale-up, clinical trials and large-scale commercial quantities. This contract strengthens the position Lonza has acquired since entering the MRT market some years ago.

In 2003, Lonza decided to enter the microreactor market and initiated a technology project for the production of fine chemicals. The program resulted in the realization of our in-house designed microreactors (patent pending) on different scales. The novelty of the technology is that a large range of flow rates can be covered from few milliliters/min up to several hundred milliliters/min. As opposed to the current devices on the market, the Lonza system does not require external/internal parallelization for high flow applications. Thus, the Lonza microreactor is able to produce even multi-ton large-scale quantities with the same device.

“We are pleased to offer our microreactor technology to our pharmaceutical partners. The Lonza microcreactor offers state-of-the-art technology and assures quality robustness, easy cleaning and change-over procedures in a GMP environment. The Lonza reactor is capable of producing three tons of isolated materials within a campaign of a few weeks”, comments Uwe H. Böhlke, Head of Lonza Exclusive Synthesis.

Microreactor technology utilizes continuous flow processes based on plug flow reactors. It requires minimal reagent volumes while offering rapid dynamic responses and robustness. The systems allow excellent temperature control and efficient mixing procedures. MRT furthermore delivers the following advantages: new chemical routes, reduced solvent usage, higher yields than conventional batch process and reduced change-over time.