Biocodex Invests €15 Million to Establish a New Industrial Platform for Live Biotherapeutic Products in France
Biocodex, an independent French pharmaceutical company with more than 70 years of experience in living microorganisms, microbiota, fermentation and pharmaceutical manufacturing, is expanding its industrial capabilities through a significant investment in next-generation microbiome-based medicines. The €15 million project will establish a specialized production platform in Beauvais, France, dedicated to developing and manufacturing Live Biotherapeutic Products (LBPs).
The investment reflects Biocodex’s long-term commitment to advancing microbiome science and supporting the development of innovative biological medicines. By combining its established expertise in microorganisms with specialized pharmaceutical manufacturing infrastructure, the company intends to create an industrial environment capable of supporting biotechnology companies as they advance microbiome-based therapeutic candidates from early research through clinical development and eventual commercial production.
The new platform will be available to biotechnology companies worldwide and will also support Biocodex’s internal research and development programs. Through this initiative, the company aims to address an important manufacturing requirement within the rapidly developing microbiome therapeutics sector: the availability of specialized industrial facilities capable of producing living microorganisms under stringent pharmaceutical quality and manufacturing conditions.
The project is also expected to contribute to strengthening French and European industrial sovereignty in the production of advanced microbiome-based therapies, helping establish a stronger manufacturing foundation for future healthcare innovations.
Advancing the Industrial Development of Microbiome-Based Therapies
Scientific research into the human microbiome has expanded significantly in recent years, creating new opportunities for therapeutic development across several areas of medicine. The microbiome, which consists of complex communities of microorganisms living in and on the human body, plays an important role in maintaining biological functions and influencing various aspects of human health.
Growing scientific understanding of the relationship between microorganisms and human physiology has encouraged researchers and biotechnology companies to investigate new therapeutic approaches based on microbiome modulation. These developments are opening potential treatment opportunities in oncology, inflammatory bowel diseases, selected rare diseases and women’s health.
Live Biotherapeutic Products represent an emerging category of biological medicines developed using living microorganisms. These products may contain individual bacterial or yeast strains or combinations of multiple microorganisms designed to deliver specific therapeutic effects.
Unlike conventional pharmaceutical products, LBPs require specialized development and manufacturing processes because their active components are living organisms. Maintaining the identity, viability, stability and quality of these microorganisms throughout production is essential to ensuring that the resulting medicines meet pharmaceutical standards.
Although scientific research has demonstrated promising opportunities in microbiome-based treatments, translating these discoveries into pharmaceutical products that can be tested in clinical trials and eventually manufactured commercially remains a complex undertaking.
One of the major challenges facing the sector is the availability of manufacturing infrastructure specifically designed to accommodate the biological and operational requirements of living microorganisms. Standard pharmaceutical production facilities may not always be suitable for manufacturing complex microbial products, particularly when multiple strains with different growth characteristics are involved.
Biocodex’s €15 million investment is intended to address this industrial challenge by creating a dedicated platform that can support the different stages of LBP development and production.
A Specialized Platform Supporting Biotechnology Companies Worldwide
The new Beauvais platform will be designed to serve biotechnology companies developing microbiome-based therapeutic candidates. Its capabilities will cover several stages of the pharmaceutical development process, providing support from clinical manufacturing through industrial scale-up and, ultimately, commercial production.
For biotechnology companies, access to suitable manufacturing facilities is an important consideration when progressing an investigational biological medicine through clinical development. Producing clinical batches requires specialized equipment, controlled manufacturing environments and processes that can maintain product quality and consistency.
As development programs advance, manufacturers must also demonstrate that production processes can be scaled up while preserving the essential characteristics of the biological product. This is particularly important for LBPs because the manufacturing process must accommodate the specific properties of the microorganisms used in each formulation.
Through the new platform, Biocodex aims to provide biotechnology partners with industrial manufacturing capabilities that can support these requirements.
The facility will be open to companies from different countries, allowing international biotechnology developers to access Biocodex’s experience in microbial production and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The platform is expected to create opportunities for collaboration between established pharmaceutical manufacturing expertise and emerging biotechnology innovators working on microbiome-based medicines.
In addition to supporting external partners, the facility will provide manufacturing capabilities for Biocodex’s own research and development activities. This will allow the company to strengthen the connection between its scientific research programs and the industrial infrastructure required to advance potential therapeutic candidates.
Biocodex has already established relationships with two partners for the initiative, with initial activities expected to begin in the coming months. These early collaborations represent an initial step toward developing the platform’s activities and supporting upcoming LBP manufacturing programs.
Addressing the Manufacturing Complexity of Live Biotherapeutic Products
The production of Live Biotherapeutic Products requires specialized manufacturing processes that differ from those used for many conventional pharmaceutical products.
LBPs are biological medicines containing living microorganisms, including bacteria and yeasts. Depending on the therapeutic approach, these products may consist of a single microbial strain or a combination of several microorganisms, commonly referred to as microbial consortia.
Each microorganism has distinct biological characteristics and environmental requirements. These differences influence how individual strains must be cultivated, processed and maintained during manufacturing.
For example, certain bacterial strains require oxygen-free environments to grow successfully. Other microorganisms may have different nutritional, temperature and environmental requirements. When several strains are combined within a single therapeutic product, the manufacturing process becomes even more complex because the production system must accommodate the characteristics of the different microbial components.
The ability to maintain appropriate cultivation conditions is essential to preserving the quality and consistency of the final product.
Furthermore, manufacturers must establish processes that can reliably reproduce the desired microbial composition and maintain the viability of the microorganisms throughout production. These requirements make the development of dedicated manufacturing infrastructure particularly important for companies operating in the LBP field.
Biocodex has incorporated these technical considerations into the early design of its new industrial platform. The facility will be developed with processes and infrastructure adapted to the specific requirements of living microorganisms and the pharmaceutical standards governing biological medicine production.
By addressing these requirements during the design phase, the company intends to establish a manufacturing environment capable of accommodating different LBP programs and their individual production needs.
The platform’s ability to support both individual microbial strains and more complex microbial combinations will be an important element of its intended capabilities.
Leveraging More Than 70 Years of Microbial and Pharmaceutical Expertise
Biocodex’s investment builds on the company’s long-standing experience in living microorganisms, microbiota, fermentation technologies and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Over more than seven decades, the company has developed expertise in working with microorganisms and incorporating microbial science into pharmaceutical production. This background provides an important foundation for its expansion into the emerging LBP manufacturing market.
The company intends to use this experience to support biotechnology partners facing the technical challenges associated with developing and manufacturing microbiome-based medicines.
The investment also reflects Biocodex’s strategy of connecting scientific innovation with industrial production capabilities. As microbiome research continues to generate new therapeutic candidates, specialized manufacturing infrastructure will be increasingly important for translating scientific discoveries into medicines that can be evaluated in clinical trials and potentially introduced into healthcare systems.
By establishing a dedicated industrial platform, Biocodex aims to position itself as a manufacturing and development partner for organizations working in this area.
The initiative is also expected to strengthen the company’s own research and development capabilities by providing access to specialized production infrastructure within its existing industrial operations.
Beauvais Site to Become the Center of the New Industrial Platform
The new LBP platform will be developed within an existing 900-square-meter building at Biocodex’s Beauvais site in France.
The Beauvais facility has been operating since 1968 and represents an established part of the company’s pharmaceutical manufacturing network. The site manages activities across the pharmaceutical value chain, covering manufacturing operations through to product shipping and distribution.
Currently, the Beauvais site produces approximately 95 million pharmaceutical packs annually, with products distributed to more than 100 countries worldwide.
Its existing manufacturing experience and established industrial infrastructure provide a foundation for the development of the specialized LBP platform.
Rather than establishing an entirely new industrial location, Biocodex plans to utilize the existing building and adapt it to meet the technical requirements of living microorganism production.
The development will introduce specialized capabilities intended to accommodate the cultivation, processing and manufacturing of LBPs. The facility’s design will take into account the specific requirements of different microbial strains, including the need for controlled and oxygen-free cultivation conditions for certain microorganisms.
Integrating the new platform into an established pharmaceutical manufacturing site is expected to support the company’s broader industrial strategy while expanding the range of products and manufacturing activities that can be managed at Beauvais.
The investment will also contribute to strengthening the site’s role within Biocodex’s global operations and its ability to support future developments in microbiome-based pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Development Timeline and Manufacturing Milestones
Biocodex began deploying the industrial platform in 2026, with a phased development plan intended to establish clinical manufacturing capabilities before progressing toward commercial production.
The company has outlined several important milestones for the project, reflecting the time and technical preparation required to develop a specialized facility for live biotherapeutic manufacturing.
The first clinical manufacturing batches are scheduled for the first half of 2028. This milestone is expected to represent an important step in making the platform operational for biotechnology companies and development programs requiring clinical-grade LBP production.
Following the introduction of clinical batch manufacturing, the company plans to continue developing the platform’s industrial capabilities and preparing for larger-scale production.
Commercial manufacturing capacity is expected to become available by 2030. This longer-term objective is intended to support the growing requirements of microbiome-based therapeutic programs as they progress through clinical development and potentially move toward commercialization.
The phased approach will allow Biocodex to develop the infrastructure and manufacturing processes needed to support different stages of product development.
The company will also be able to build on its early partnerships as the platform moves toward operational readiness.
Strengthening French and European Industrial Sovereignty
Beyond expanding its own manufacturing capabilities, Biocodex’s investment is intended to support the development of a stronger French and European industrial ecosystem for microbiome-based therapies.
The global biotechnology industry is increasingly focused on developing advanced biological medicines, including treatments based on living microorganisms. However, the industrial infrastructure required to manufacture these products at pharmaceutical quality standards remains a critical part of the development process.
Access to specialized manufacturing facilities can influence how quickly biotechnology companies advance their research programs, produce clinical trial materials and prepare for larger-scale production.
Developing manufacturing capabilities within France and Europe could help reduce reliance on external production infrastructure while strengthening regional expertise in advanced biological manufacturing.
Biocodex’s initiative is aligned with this broader objective. By investing in a dedicated LBP platform, the company aims to contribute to the development of an industrial sector capable of supporting future innovations in microbiome science.
The project is also expected to encourage collaboration between pharmaceutical manufacturers and biotechnology companies, creating opportunities to connect scientific discoveries with the industrial capabilities required for pharmaceutical development.
For European biotechnology companies, access to specialized manufacturing infrastructure could become an important factor in advancing microbiome-based therapeutic candidates.
Bringing Microbiome Innovations Closer to Patients
The €15 million investment represents an important step in Biocodex’s strategy to expand its involvement in microbiome-based pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.
With its established experience in microorganisms, fermentation and pharmaceutical production, the company intends to provide a platform that addresses the specific manufacturing challenges associated with LBPs.
By supporting external biotechnology partners and its own research and development programs, Biocodex aims to help advance promising microbiome-based therapies through clinical manufacturing, industrial scale-up and eventual commercial production.
The development of the Beauvais platform also reflects the growing importance of specialized manufacturing infrastructure in translating scientific advances into new therapeutic options.
With initial partner activities expected to begin in the coming months, clinical batches targeted for the first half of 2028 and commercial production capacity anticipated by 2030, the project represents a long-term investment in the future of microbiome-based medicines.
Ultimately, Biocodex aims to help bring innovations in microbiome science closer to patients while contributing to the development of a stronger French and European industrial sector for next-generation biological therapies.
About Biocodex: Biocodex is an independent French pharmaceutical company present in over 100 countries through its affiliates and partners. Since 1953, it has combined industrial excellence, scientific expertise and social responsibility to develop innovative health solutions.