Lonza Launches Effort to Boost Capsules Production Capacity

Swiss lifesciences firm Lonza recently revealed plans to invest $93 million in its Capsules and Health Ingredients (CHI) division to increase capacity for its Capsugel portfolio by 15%, or 30 billion capsules per year, across its global manufacturing and supply chain network.

The company said the expansion is part of its effort to bolster its position as the leading global supplier of capsules as demand for the product rises in the pharmaceutical and nutritional supplements markets. Last year, Lonza launched a project to increase its capacity by 10 billion capsules.

“The additional manufacturing capacity for a further 30 billion capsules will address the high growth across CHI’s gelatin, vegetarian and specialty polymers portfolio as well as the liquid-filled hard capsules sold under the Licaps brand,” Lonza stated in a release.

Capacity will be increased over the next two years at eight Lonza plants in Belgium, France, the US, India, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, and China.

“The expansion underlines the strategic position of capsules within the broader nutrition industry and will also support production as CHI also introduces new dosage technologies such as Lipid Multi Particulates (LMP) technologies and several new time release functional capsule solutions,” the company said.