While Canada’s largest vaccine manufacturing facility has opened its doors and is flying the Sanofi flag, another of the French drugmaker’s production projects in the Toronto area appears to be running behind schedule.
On Thursday, Sanofi opened the doors to a new $800 million CAD ($586 million) state-of-the-art pediatric and adult vaccine plant on its Toronto campus. The 200,000 square-foot site will employ 200 people and make vaccines for whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus.
Sanofi’s investment in the site is supported by federal, provincial and municipal governments, including a $50 million CAD investment from Ontario, the province noted in a press release. The new digs will boost capacity to meet Canadian and global demand for the vaccines, which will be exported to 60 markets across the world.
Meanwhile, the drugmaker is simultaneously working to build a new flu and pandemic preparedness site, which will be operational in 2027, Sanofi Canada lead and general manager of specialty care, Stephanie Veyrun-Manetti, said in the Ontario government's release.
That site was originally expected to "be operational in 2026, following design, construction, testing and qualification of the facility and equipment,” the company announced in 2021. Sanofi at the time revealed a €600 million ($681 million) investment in the plant to “address the fast-growing demand” for its Fluzone High-Dose vaccine.
Elsewhere in Canada, the government last year doled out $80.5 million CAD ($59 million) to the Canadian Critical Drug Initiative to boost drug research, commercialization and manufacturing in Alberta. The funding will go toward a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing site and an upgrade to a biotechnology business development center in Edmonton.