Isabelle Lafosse-Marin, Senior Director and General Manager of Thermo Fisher Scientific's Bourgoin site, shed light on the company's expansion in France and its impact on manufacturing capabilities for life-saving drugs. The Bourgoin site serves as a center of excellence for oral solid dose therapies, offering end-to-end drug product development and high potent substance handling. With the site expansion, Thermo Fisher can now cater to customers' entire workflow, from early drug development to commercial manufacturing, underscoring their commitment to expedite the delivery of medicines to patients. Lafosse-Marin emphasized that the expansion in France will foster partnerships with customers, providing reliable solutions for clinical and commercial oral solid dose manufacturing. She also highlighted the support received from the French government's economic stimulus plan, France Relance, and the facility's state-of-the-art technologies for handling high potent substances. This expansion aligns with Thermo Fisher's global investments in small molecule solutions and strengthens their position in the field of oral solid dose development and manufacturing services.

Can you tell us more about the early development work for oral solid dose therapies that you are adding to your Bourgoin, France site, and how it will benefit your clients?

As a center of excellence for oral solid dose, Thermo Fisher’s Bourgoin site provides end-to-end drug product development and high potent substance handling for all conventional oral solid dose. Our site is equipped to deliver tablets, capsules and granules, as well as specialized technologies such as compaction and compression-contained simulation and Accelerated Stability Assessment Program (ASAP) simulation. 

With this site expansion, we can now address customers’ entire workflow, from early drug development through commercial manufacturing. This further underscores our commitment to help our customers get medicines to patients faster.  

How will this expansion in France help Thermo Fisher Scientific to further forge partnerships with customers for the development and commercial production of lifesaving drugs for their patients?

Expanding our capabilities in France will allow us to further forge partnerships with customers by providing them our reliable end-to-end solutions for clinical and commercial oral solid dose manufacturing, which includes packaging, labeling, and serialization capabilities to facilitate the commercialization of lifesaving drugs patients rely on to improve their quality of life.

How has the French government's France Relance economic stimulus plan supported your early development hub, and what impact has it had on your expansion plans?

In 2022, the Bourgoin site received a grant from the French government as part of the “France Relance” plan. By creating this new capability within the French territory, the Bourgoin site expansion is supporting the initiative of boosting the competitiveness of the French economy and offering a fertile environment for innovation. 

What specialized technologies do you have in place at Bourgoin to handle high potent substance manufacturing, and how will it help your clients?

Our new, 430-square-meter dedicated research and development hub offers state-of-the art equipment and technologies to support formulation development and mature product characterization of oral solid dose form.

The facility’s new capabilities will offer wet granulation, dry granulation, compression, coating, encapsulation, compaction and compression simulation, packaging in bottles and blisters, as well as material characterization, and ASAP. All equipment and technologies can handle highly potent APIs up to category 3B, thanks to containment by design or through flexible solutions.

Can you tell us more about Thermo Fisher Scientific's global investments in small molecule solutions, including oral solid dose development and manufacturing services, and how this expansion in France fits into that overall strategy?

In the last decade, we have led and advanced the field of oral solid dose development, supporting 126 new drug approvals. Expanding our capabilities in France is a further investment in our global oral solid network that will allow us to further forge partnerships with customers who depend on our capabilities for the development and commercial production of lifesaving drugs for their patients.

This expansion in Bourgoin builds on our investments in small molecule solutions, including oral solid dose development and manufacturing services in Bend, Ore., U.S.; Greenville, N.C., U.S.; Cincinnati, OH, U.S.; Manatí, Puerto Rico; Toronto, Canada; Whitby, Canada; and Milton Park, U.K.