Lonza Group, an integrated product and service provider to the biotechnology industry, is planning a $10 million expansion of its operations in Bend.

New suites for the development and manufacturing of products are being constructed, with the first going online this month and the remaining suites finished in 2022, according to Paul Granberry, managing director for Lonza in Bend.

The company’s Bend facility specializes in developing and manufacturing products that can be more easily absorbed by the human body. The newest investment will increase capacity and production.

“Dedicated, fit-for-purpose suites, infrastructure, and systems are critical for supporting the needs of our customers’ early-phase programs,” said Granberry.

The term “suite” refers to a space or room designed to provide the appropriate conditions and controls to manufacture a pharmaceutical drug product. The rooms are not laboratories in the traditional sense but do contain the machinery and equipment for the highly controlled production of pharmaceutical products.

The new suites will allow the company to expand early-phase work to produce tablets and capsules that can be consumed. The process includes spray-drying, which is a method of producing a dry powder from a liquid or slurry by drying it rapidly with a hot gas. Customer in-plant viewing corridors are part of the design plans, as well as gowning areas where workers can safely change into appropriate uniforms.

Granberry said the suites are designed for early-phase trial products. In order to determine whether a new drug is safe and effective in people it must go through a series of clinical trials, he said.

Lonza is currently working with Moderna on a COVID-19 vaccine, but that work is being conducted at the company’s facilities in New Hampshire. Lonza’s involvement with the vaccine has helped push the company’s share prices up 67% this year.

The suites in Bend, at Lonza’s Empire Boulevard campus, will add 35 new jobs at the company, said Granberry.

The company currently has 420 employees in Bend.

Roger Lee, executive director for Economic Development for Central Oregon, says Lonza has already played a role in expanding Central Oregon’s job growth.

“These are very well-paying jobs and increasingly include manufacturing in addition to scientific research, providing a range of employment opportunities,” said Lee.

The Bend facility, formerly known as Bend Research, was purchased by Lonza in 2017. The $10 million investment comes after the company spent $20 million in infrastructure improvements over the past two years, according to Daniel Dobry, the head of commercial development drug products in Bend.

“It’s an exciting time in our industry right now,” said Dobry. “The demand for novel therapies to treat everything from cancer to COVID continues to drive demand for the technologies needed to advance these therapies to patients.”