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French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur has unveiled plans to build a vaccine manufacturing facility in Toronto, Canada.

Sanofi will invest more than €350m ($432m) in the state-of-the-art vaccine plant, the company’s largest facility-based investment to date.

The project was announced in April 2018, with construction expected to be completed in 2021. The facility is expected to begin operations in 2023 and will double the company’s vaccine output.

The facility will enable Sanofi to support its paediatric and booster vaccines capacity to meet growing demand in the market, as well as strengthening the company’s Canadian operations.

The project is expected to create up to 1,250 jobs.

Sanofi vaccine manufacturing facility location

Sanofi’s vaccine manufacturing facility will be located at Sanofi Pasteur’s Connaught Campus in North Toronto. The campus is the company’s headquarters for Canadian vaccine production and research and development (R&D).

Canada was chosen as the facility’s ideal location due to its strong legacy in vaccine R&D.

Details of Sanofi’s Toronto facility

With a built-up area of 150,000ft², the plant will feature equipment to manufacture vaccines and the antigens needed for the treatment of diphtheria. It will also manufacture five-component acellular pertussis (5-acP) antigen, which was researched and developed in Canada.

There is a growing demand for vaccines indicated for the treatment of whooping cough in children and adults. This facility will allow Sanofi to launch the whooping cough vaccine in more than 30 markets around the world.

Financing for Sanofi’s Toronto vaccine manufacturing facility

Sanofi’s vaccine manufacturing facility will receive funding of C$70m ($55.5m) from the governments of Canada and Ontario.

Of this funding, C$20m ($15.8m) will be provided by the federal economic development agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) through the Advanced Manufacturing Fund (AMF), a development programme that supports Ontario’s manufacturing sector.

The remaining C$50m ($39.7m) will be provided by the Government of Ontario through the Jobs and Prosperity Fund, which was created to promote R&D activity and finance projects related to pharmaceutical research in the state.

Sanofi has also requested the Economic Development Committee of Ontario to approve a property tax incentive under the Imagination, Manufacturing, Innovation and Technology (IMIT) programme. The IMIT programme is a business incentive programme that encourages new investment and employment.

Details of Sanofi Pasteur’s Toronto campus

Sanofi’s Toronto campus was initially founded as Antitoxin Laboratory in 1914 within the University of Toronto. In 1917, the campus was expanded by opening a pharmaceutical farm in North Toronto.

The campus specialises in the development and manufacture of life-saving medicines for the American, Canadian and other international markets. Covering 54 acres, the campus includes office space, R&D labs and various vaccine manufacturing facilities. It employs around 1,400 people in industrial and commercial operations, as well as in R&D.

The Toronto site manufactures nine products for serious bacterial infections such as pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus. Vaccines manufactured for these diseases include Pentacel^®, Pediacel^®, Adacel^®, Adacel-Polio, Quadracel^®, Daptacel^®, Td Adsorbed, Td Polio Adsorbed, and Tubersol^®.