With governance enhancements at the Board level and the launch of our new One Lonza Group strategy, 2024 was a defining year in which we strengthened our foundations to deliver long-term value creation with a sharpened focus on our core CDMO business.
We approach our next chapter in our journey from a position of strength and confidence. Lonza continues to operate in an attractive and growing market, backed by a sustained pipeline of therapies, and robust investment in emerging technologies to make the medicines of tomorrow.
Sales in CHF
CORE EBITDA in CHF
CORE EBITDA margin in %
ROIC in %
Employees (Full-time equivalent)
Small1 and large2 molecules
Global development and manufacturing sites
Brands
Trademark filings
Active patent families
Including active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), highly potent API (HPAPI), dosage form and delivery systems and particle engineering.
Including mammalian, microbial, bioconjugates, drug product services and cell and gene therapy products (personalized medicines are included in pre-clinical and clinical molecules only, early development services are included for pre-clinical molecules only).
By focusing on high value assets and technologies, our strategic investment plan is designed to outpace the market, deliver long-term margin improvement, and generate strong free cash flow. Our disciplined capital allocation framework ensures we balance organic investments, bolt-on M&A and shareholder returns to ensure sustainable value creation for our business, our shareholders, our customers and our people.
Our business model is designed for long-term growth through strategic investments, operational excellence and a customer-centric approach. With targeted growth initiatives and continuous improvement, we support our customers’ evolving needs so we can build strong partnerships and deliver lasting impact.
Sustainability is about long-term value creation. We engage in responsible conduct to meet the commitments of our shareholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders. To drive accountability and measurable impact, we embed sustainable practices into our business strategy and define clear delivery targets in our remuneration policies.
Our people are our greatest strength, and we are committed to fostering an inspiring environment where they feel valued, supported and empowered to bring their best. Looking ahead, we will continue to prioritize learning and development opportunities, along with fostering inclusion and well-being, to empower our teams to grow, develop, and innovate in ways that contribute to our long-term success.
We remain committed to being a strong development partner driven by science. In response to positive market dynamics, and listening to our clients' needs, we are planning for future growth by strengthening our early-phase offerings, and investing in additional development and manufacturing capacity to be present throughout the full product lifecycle.
2024 was a year of focused and strategic growth for our Biologics business. As integrated service offerings become increasingly important, Lonza remains at the forefront of this trend. We successfully completed the acquisition of our large-scale manufacturing facility in Vacaville from Roche, significantly enhancing our manufacturing capacity to continue to serve commercial customers and support the development of new molecules.
We have seen continued customer interest in our commercial offering within Cell & Gene, highlighted by our long-term supply agreement with Vertex to manufacture CASGEVY® for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Such agreements reflect our ambition to expand our portfolio of commercial products, with more additions expected in the mid-term.
During 2024, we remained committed to delivering customer value while strengthening our overall cost competitiveness. In the short term, we implemented rigorous cost management across all sites and functions. For the long term, we advanced the deployment of our new proprietary hard empty capsule manufacturing D90 technology, delivering a significant improvement in quality standards, productivity and carbon footprint.
