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11/30/2007
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| Lonza Celebrates Opening of Shawinigan Facility |
Yesterday Lonza held an opening event for its newly acquired plant in Shawinigan, Canada. The plant is dedicated to the production of Pro-KTM, which is a new addition to Lonza’s nutrition portfolio. The plant just successfully passed its ISO-9001-2000 and FAMI-QS certification audit on November 27th 2007.
The opening of the Shawinigan facility marks not only the inauguration of a state-of-the-art production site but also the introduction of the new trademark Pro-KTM. Lonza acquired the assets in Shawinigan (previously S.A.M. Electron Technologies) in May 2007 to support the continued growth of its animal nutrition business.
This vitamin K3 manufacturing in Canada, along with the existing production facilities for Niacin, Niacinamide, L-Carnitine (Carniking®) and Arabinogalactan (LaraFeed®) in Switzerland, China, Czech Republic and USA, strengthens LONZA’s position as a supplier of choice to the animal feed industry.
Roman Quinter, Head of Lonza’s Nutrition Business Unit, commented at the opening ceremony: "We are excited to have Pro-KTM in our portfolio and we will provide to our customers a quality product at competitive terms. This acquisition demonstrates our long-term commitment for Pro-KTM. We are proud to have established a new ecological standard for the production of vitamin K3.”
Lonza manufactures the vitamin K3 by a unique process referred to as the CeTECH™ process, for which Lonza possesses the exclusive worldwide license. CeTECH™ is an electrochemical cerium based oxidation technology, recognized by ICIS as the best process innovation of 2005. This advanced technology is a cleaner and more environmentally friendly process, which unlike most current vitamin K3 manufacturing processes, avoids the use of chromium as the oxidizing agent and eliminates the production of chromium by-products.
Lonza’s Shawinigan plant currently employs 20 employees. The operation is designed for a production capacity of 400 metric tons per year.
About Pro-KTM
Vitamin K3 or Menadione is a fat soluble synthetic vitamin used in animal nutrition. Vitamin K is well known in the context of blood clotting and coagulation. This coagulation process prevents excessive blood loss due to cuts or injuries. Vitamin K has also been shown to act as a coenzyme in other metabolic processes related to bone mineralization, protein formation and some specific cell growth.
About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science industries. Its products and services span its customers’ needs from research to final product manufacture. Lonza is the global leader in the production and support of active pharmaceutical ingredients both chemically as well as biotechnologically. Biopharmaceuticals are one of the key growth drivers of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Lonza has strong capabilities in large and small molecules, peptides, amino acids and niche bioproducts which play an important role in the development of novel medicines and healthcare products. Lonza is a leader in cell-based research, endotoxin detection and cell therapy manufacturing. Lonza is also a leading provider of value chemical and biotech ingredients to the nutrition, hygiene, preservation, agro and personal care markets.
Lonza is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. In 2006, Lonza had sales of CHF 2.91 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.
For further information:
Head Corporate Communications
Janet White
Tel +41 61 316 8566
Fax +41 61 316 9566
janet.white@lonza.com
Media Relations
Dominik Werner
Tel +41 61 316 8798
Fax +41 61 316 9798
dominik.werner@lonza.com
Investor Relations
Alexandre Pasini
Tel +41 61 316 8835
Fax +41 61 316 9835
alexandre.pasini@lonza.com
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