Lonza to Boost Carnitine Production

The new capacity will be added to Lonza’s existing facilities in Nansha, located in China’s southern province of Guangdong. The strategic proximity to Guangzhou and Hong Kong as well as new market growth and opportunities for organizational synergies were taken into consideration for the plant location.

30 Mar 2010 --- Lonza announced its expansion of capacities for Carnipure and Carniking, L-Carnitine products belonging to Lonza’s Nutrition business within Life Science Ingredients. The expansion is in line with Lonza’s long-term strategy for nutrition ingredients and will support the increasing demand for L-Carnitine applications in the food, feed and pharmaceutical industries.

Carnipure (for use in Human Nutrition) and Carniking (for use in Animal Nutrition) are trademarks of Lonza Ltd., Switzerland. Products carrying the Carnipure or Carniking Quality Seal show that they contain high quality product from Lonza.

Lukas Utiger, COO Lonza Life Science Ingredients, commented, “Carnipure and Carniking have experienced a surge in demand in the last few years due to strong scientific evidence, favorable regulatory status and appeal to end consumers. New capacities for Carnipure and Carniking will allow us to meet our customers’ future demands in new and fast-growing markets, thus securing our long-term leadership in this business.”

The new capacity will be added to Lonza’s existing facilities in Nansha, located in China’s southern province of Guangdong. The strategic proximity to Guangzhou and Hong Kong as well as new market growth and opportunities for organizational synergies were taken into consideration for the plant location. The capacity will be added in phases, with the first phase expected to come on-line by the end of 2010. The new Carnipure and Carniking facility will be ISO 9001, 14001, 22000 and FAMI-QS certified and operate under the implementation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles. The new proprietary production process was invented by Lonza scientists in Visp, Switzerland, and has subsequently been filed for patent protection. It will have a positive environmental footprint compared to other currently used processes in the industry. The specifications of Carnipure and Carniking will remain unchanged.

In Nansha Lonza currently operates a fully integrated site with state–of-the-art facilities for Nicotinates (Vitamin B3) as well as small and large scale cGMP production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API’s). In addition, R&D Services are supported by 70 scientists working in a 1000 m2 lab. These facilities have been successfully audited by numerous customers.