Lonza to buy five US manufacturing sites from Merck KGaA

Basel-based contract manufacturer Lonza has signed an agreement to acquire five US development and manufacturing sites from Merck KGaA, with around 1,100 employees transferring to Lonza. The sites cover bioconjugates such as antibody-drug conjugates and viral vectors; Lonza goes from four to nine US sites and to more than 6,000 employees there. The enterprise value is in the low to mid triple-digit millions of Swiss francs (Lonza, ad hoc announcement, 3 November 2026).