The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with Lyon at its heart, is France’s industrial heartland. Hosting over 500,000 manufacturing and manufacturing-related jobs, AURA is also the nation’s top destination the production of biologics, vaccines, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and medtech. It offers potential investors a fully integrated value chain from early-stage R&D through clinical development and production, and is set to play an increasingly important role in the context of the national push towards medicinal sovereignty and self-reliance.
Global and local pharma have taken note, particularly Sanofi, whose presence in Lyon dates back to the early 20th century through its roots in the Institut Mérieux. A century-long partnership has seen Sanofi repeatedly invest in the region as a global centre of excellence.
Their latest “vote of confidence” is the Modulus site in Neuville-sur-Saône, a EUR 500 million investment that created the world’s first Evolutive Vaccine Facility (EVF). This is a modular, fully digitalised manufacturing plant designed to produce up to four different biological products simultaneously and switch between different technologies – such as mRNA or viral vectors – in just days rather than months. Further south, the Sanofi Lyon Gerland site continues to be a pillar of the group’s global network, specialising in the production of high-value immunology treatments and polyclonal antibodies.
Other significant recent investments have come from the likes of Boehringer Ingelheim, which established its global headquarters for animal health in Lyon following its acquisition of Merial, as well as contract manufacturers like Unither and SEQENS.
As France (and Europe) attempts to re- and near-shore essential production and avoid the shortages experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lyon – with this industrial heritage – will be crucial.
“Rather than a full reshoring of production, what is emerging is a hybrid model that combines the competitiveness of Asian manufacturing with the resilience and proximity of regional partners in Europe, the United States, and Japan,” conjectures Pascal Villemagne, CEO of SEQENS.
“For SEQENS, this shift aligns perfectly with our positioning: a globally integrated organisation with strong local presence, capable of combining flexibility, quality, and security of supply: precisely what our clients now value most of all in a strategic CDMO partner.”
A flagship example of this strategy has been the company’s Project Phoenix in Roussillon, where they are finalising the construction of a new paracetamol API plant. This EUR 100 million investment utilises an innovative, low-carbon continuous-flow chemistry process that reduces the environmental footprint by a factor of five to ten compared to traditional units.
“Beyond its scale, this project embodies our contribution to France’s and Europe’s industrial sovereignty, reinforcing local manufacturing capabilities and restoring strategic autonomy in the production of essential medicines,” affirms Villemagne.
Another local manufacturer, Benta Lyon (formerly a Sanofi site in Saint-Genis-Laval), is also stepping up to the plate on essential medicine production. “Through the France 2030 programme, we were selected in 2023 for a project dedicated to developing essential generics in therapeutic areas such as anaesthesia for intensive care, cardiology, infectiology and oncology,” notes the organisation’s CEO, Damien Parisien. “In 2025 we received a second France 2030 award for paediatric paracetamol oral suspension to help secure supply and mitigate shortages.”
It is a similar story at fellow CDMO Skyepharma, which specialises in complex oral solid forms at its site in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier. “France 2030 has placed a strong focus on health sovereignty, including the relocation or reinforcement of production for around fifty essential medicines where dependence on imports remains high,” explains CEO Sébastien Mas. In early 2025, Skyepharma inaugurated a new 450 m² High-Potency API (HPAPI) facility for OEB4/5 class drugs, specifically targeting oncology.
“Skyepharma was selected under the France 2030 relocalisation programme for essential medicines and received EUR 1.6 million in public support to strengthen our manufacturing capacity, which confirms the contribution we can make to this national priority,” adds Mas.
