LONZA AG

Their core work

Lonza is a major Swiss contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in biologics, cell and gene therapies, and pharmaceutical ingredients. In H2020, they contribute industrial-scale bioprocessing expertise — from microbial expression systems for recombinant proteins to advanced therapy manufacturing for gene and cell therapies. They bring real-world pharmaceutical manufacturing knowledge to research consortia, bridging the gap between lab-scale biology and commercial drug production. Their involvement in protein drug handling and stability research reflects their role across the full biologics lifecycle, from production through to patient delivery.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Lonza's H2020 trajectory shows a clear shift from industrial bioprocessing fundamentals toward advanced therapies and real-world drug handling. Their early work (2015-2019) centered on microbial expression systems, recombinant proteins, and process efficiency — core competencies of a biologics CDMO. From 2020 onward, they moved into gene therapy, cell therapy for rare diseases, and practical challenges of protein drug stability in real-world pharmacy settings, reflecting the broader industry pivot toward advanced therapeutic modalities.

Lonza is moving from traditional biologics manufacturing toward advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) and real-world drug quality assurance — expect future collaborations to center on cell/gene therapy scale-up and pharmaceutical supply chain integrity.

How they like to work

Lonza participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with a large industrial company contributing manufacturing expertise to academic-led research consortia. With 87 unique partners across 18 countries from just 4 projects, they work in large, diverse consortia. This pattern suggests they are sought after as an industry anchor partner who provides real-world manufacturing validation and scale-up capabilities to research projects.

Despite only 4 projects, Lonza has collaborated with 87 unique partners across 18 countries, indicating participation in large European consortia with broad geographic coverage. Their network spans the EU research landscape without a narrow geographic preference.

What sets them apart

Lonza is one of the world's largest CDMOs, making them a rare industrial heavyweight in H2020 health consortia — most participants are universities or SMEs. Their value lies in providing the commercial manufacturing perspective: they know what it takes to move a biologic from bench to GMP production. For consortium builders, having Lonza as a partner signals industrial relevance and a credible path to manufacturing scale-up.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ARDAT
  Long-running project (2020-2026) focused on accelerating advanced therapy R&D for rare diseases — positions Lonza at the frontier of gene and cell therapy manufacturing.
• Secreters
  MSCA training network developing next-generation microbial expression hosts, combining systems biology with industrial enzyme and biotherapeutic production — Lonza's only project with recorded EC funding (EUR 281K).
• RealHOPE
  Unusual focus on post-manufacturing drug handling challenges including pharmacy robotics and printed electronic monitoring tags — bridges manufacturing with patient-facing drug quality.