By John Miller
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss contract drug manufacturer Lonza (S:LONN) said on Friday it is focusing on a small number of key development projects related to potential vaccines and treatments for coronavirus after receiving dozens of clinical and commercial enquiries.
The Basel-based company's pharmaceuticals, biotech and nutrition business has received more than 40 enquiries regarding projects relating to COVID-19, it said.
"While the business cannot participate in every initiative, it is focusing on a small number of key development projects relating to both vaccines and therapeutic treatments, which may help to contain the spread of the pandemic," Lonza said.
The disease that has infected more than 2 million people worldwide and killed around 150,000 has set off a race among drugmakers to find an antidote.
Some companies focus on medicines to treat symptoms, while others seek a vaccine to protect people from catching the virus that attacks the respiratory system.
A Lonza spokeswoman said the projects range from smaller pre-clinical projects to commercial discussions with drugmakers that are further along in their projects and may eventually need help to scale up production quickly.
Some experts have raised concern that capacity constraints will hold back treatments that otherwise should be cheap to manufacture.
So far, there are no approved coronavirus treatments or vaccines, though many older drugs are being tested, including Gilead Sciences' (O:GILD) remdesivir treatment for Ebola, whose early clinical trial results for COVID-19 have at least lifted optimism that options could be in sight.
LIQUIDITY BOOST
Lonza has suffered only minor disruptions from the outbreak, it said. It reported a 7.4% increase in first-quarter sales to 1.64 billion Swiss francs ($1.69 billion), a figure it reported outside its normal schedule for releasing results.
The company has a "strong level of liquidity" -- last week, it placed its first-ever eurobond of 500 million euros, with a 1.65% coupon and seven-year maturity, as well as a 300 million Swiss franc bond -- and said it is continuing with key strategic growth projects and long-term investments.
A carve-out of its specialty ingredients unit, announced last year as a potential precursor to the disposal or spin-off of the business, remains on track, Lonza added.