> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bioweek.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Lonza Is Buying the Plants Where the Hardest Drugs Get Made - URL: https://bioweek.com/lonza-is-buying-the-plants-where-the-hardest-drugs-get-made/ - Published: 2026-11-04T06:07:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T06:07:43.000Z - Description: Lonza acquires Merck KGaA's five US CDMO plants for antibody-drug conjugates, viral vectors, and lipid nanoparticles, accepting a below-group margin until the 2030s. Merck KGaA exits toll manufacturing and keeps BioReliance. - Author: BioWeek - Tags: Markets On 3 November 2026, Lonza signed a definitive [agreement](https://www.lonza.com/news/2026-11-03-07-00?ref=bioweek.com) to acquire five US contract development and manufacturing sites from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The world's leading CDMO is not adding generic fill-finish volume. The plants sit in antibody-drug conjugates and bioconjugation, viral vectors for cell and gene therapy, and lipid nanoparticles, three modalities that are slow and expensive to stand up. Neither side published a precise price. Lonza described a total enterprise valuation in the low- to mid-triple-digit millions of Swiss francs. Merck KGaA described a mid-triple-digit million-euro amount. The cash-funded deal is expected to close in mid-2027, subject to customary conditions, and Lonza said it maintains its BBB+ credit rating. ### Five plants, three bottlenecks The map is the story. St. Louis, Missouri, is a bioconjugates site. Madison and Verona, Wisconsin, make high-potency payload-linkers. Carlsbad, California, offers end-to-end viral-vector solutions plus aseptic fill-finish. Indianapolis, Indiana, supplies lipid nanoparticle, liposome, and PEGylated-protein solutions, also with aseptic fill-finish. Together they take Lonza's US CDMO footprint from four sites to nine. About 1,100 Merck KGaA employees will join Lonza, lifting its US headcount above 6,000. Lonza already has about 17,000 employees and posted about CHF 3.4 billion in sales, with about CHF 1.2 billion in CORE EBITDA, in the first half of 2026\. The Merck KGaA network follows ongoing CDMO-readiness work at Vacaville, California, and a recently announced commercial spray-drying facility in Bend, Oregon. CEO Wolfgang Wienand said the deal reflects high demand for bioconjugates and viral vectors and brings customers closer in the US, the largest market for innovative pharmaceuticals. ### Paying now for capacity that earns later Lonza expects the acquired sites to contribute about CHF 250 million in sales in full-year 2028, at a CORE EBITDA margin below the group's own. Once integrated, the sites are expected to reach peak sales at Lonza's future group-margin level by the mid-2030s. That is a long wait. The company is accepting a margin discount in exchange for US capacity that is already standing in modalities that take years to replicate. William Blair analysts, quoted by Fierce Pharma, called the deal another highly attractive strategic acquisition for Lonza that meaningfully strengthens its competitive positioning across several high-growth modalities. Roughly 60% to 70% of the acquired business's projected 2028 sales is expected to come from bioconjugation, according to a Lonza investor presentation cited by Fierce, a mix that matches the St. Louis and Wisconsin footprint. That also means 2028 sales are expected to lean on bioconjugation more than on viral vectors or lipid nanoparticles. ### Merck KGaA exits toll manufacturing Merck KGaA is not leaving life science. Its BioReliance Contract Testing Services business is excluded and will remain in its Life Science [portfolio](https://www.emdgroup.com/en/news/divestment-cdmo-business-03-11-2026.html?ref=bioweek.com). The company framed the divestment as sharpening that sector's focus on innovation-driven businesses, its broad mix of consumables, technologies, and services. It said it will continue to serve pharma, biotech, and CDMO customers, including Lonza, from discovery through manufacturing. The split is clean. Merck KGaA keeps consumables, technologies, services, and testing. Lonza takes the toll-manufacturing plants, the 1,100 people, and the US customer proximity Wienand highlighted. Merck KGaA still sells into the same industry, now including its buyer as a customer. ### A smaller US buy in a consolidating market The deal arrives amid broader CDMO consolidation. Lonza's prior major US expansion was a roughly $1.2 billion [acquisition](https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/lonza-bets-big-us-growth-snaps-merck-kgaa-cdmo-business-amid-industry-consolidation?ref=bioweek.com) of a Roche plant in Vacaville, California, in 2024\. Novo Holdings' roughly $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent landed the same year, and Samsung Biologics has since bought its first US site. Against those checks, Merck KGaA's network is a smaller, more targeted buy: five sites, a fuzzy triple-digit-million price, and a 2028 sales contribution of about CHF 250 million. The trade-off is explicit. Lonza adds US capacity in ADCs, viral vectors, and lipid nanoparticles, funded in cash, and said it maintains its BBB+ rating. Those plants are expected to sit below group CORE EBITDA margin into 2028 and not to reach Lonza's future group-margin level until the mid-2030s. Merck KGaA leaves US toll manufacturing, keeps BioReliance, and keeps selling consumables and services, including to Lonza. Closing is expected in mid-2027.