• The facility, inaugurated today by the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, represents a milestone for the biopharmaceutical company that thus reinforces its internationalization strategy
• Located on a plot of more than 50,000 m2, and with an investment of 25 million euros, the facility will have a production capacity of up to 84 million vaccines per year
• This new plant is added to the incorporations of the Maymó and Ovejero Laboratories in Spain, integrated into the group in 2023 and 2021 respectively, and to the expansions carried out on the land of O Porriño (Galicia) where Zendal has its headquarters

Paredes de Coura (Portugal), October 20, 2023.- The Zendal group puts into operation its human health plant intended for the manufacture of viral and bacterial vaccines. A milestone for the biopharmaceutical group based in O Porriño, and also for biotechnology in the Euroregion, as it is the first and only manufacturing plant for human health vaccines in Portugal.

These facilities, which sit on a plot of more than 50,000 m2 in the Paredes de Coura industrial estate, were inaugurated today in an event that was attended by the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, the president of the Chamber of Paredes de Coura, Víctor Pereira, as well as the president and CEO of Zendal, Pedro Fernández Puentes and Andrés Fernández Álvarez-Santullano, respectively.

The 4,100 m2 plant houses technical areas, a production area, a warehouse, and offices, and initially employs around thirty professionals, some of whom have been previously trained at the Zendal plant in O Porriño, Spain. 

It was created with the aim of manufacturing human health vaccines on a large scale and will have a production capacity of 84 million annually. With an investment of 25 million euros, it is equipped with the latest technologies to be able to develop the entire process of a vaccine: antigen production, filling and lyophilization.

It is expected to be an attraction to expand the biotechnological ecosystem of the Euroregion. For this reason, collaboration agreements have been established for training tasks with EPRAMI and the Viana Polytechnic and it is planned to also develop synergies with Portuguese technology centres and universities, just as Zendal does in Spain.

The increasing trend in viral and bacterial diseases and the necessary reduction in the use of antibiotics require permanent updates from the pharmaceutical sector. In this context, the Zendal Group understands that we are facing a few years in which biotechnology will play an essential role with the incorporation of more preventive products such as vaccines, probiotics, or nutritional products.

In the words of the CEO of Zendal, Andrés Fernández, “the launch of this facility will play an important role for the entire Peninsula and for Southern Europe. We are talking about a vaccine plant that will allow us to have autonomy and the capacity to respond to possible future emergency situations, but above all it will work on prevention.” With this step, explains Fernández, we are also advancing our internationalization strategy, marked until now by the sale of our products in more than 60 countries, and which is now consolidated with the first facility outside of Spain.

For his part, the Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, declared during the visit “With this plant, Portugal becomes part of a small group of countries with vaccine production capacity. This Portuguese-Galician investment also allows the creation of a new biotechnological pole between Galicia and the north of Portugal, demonstrating that the Miño River is not a border. It is also a fundamental investment to gain muscle and scale to compete in an increasingly global and demanding world.”

Vitor Pereira, mayor of Paredes de Coura, stated that this door to a new future has been possible thanks to the cooperation and trust that has been developed with the Zendal company. “We want to create a biotechnology center that is capable of creating knowledge, innovation and value for the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.”

The Paredes de Coura plant is added to the acquisition projects of new subsidiaries (Maymó and Ovejero) in Spain carried out by the Zendal Group. These incorporations came after the expansions carried out since 2020 at its O Porriño facilities, integrating a new human health plant intended for viral vaccines and for obtaining recombinant proteins on a large scale, and innovating other modules with the aim of being prepared to face new healthcare challenges and move towards a greater portfolio of products and services, aimed at a broader market. And it is in this context that this new production plant is framed.

In parallel, since 2020, Zendal has expanded its O Porriño facilities by building another human health plant intended for viral vaccines and for obtaining recombinant proteins on a large scale. 

The group, made up of eight companies (CZ Vaccines, Biofabri, Maymó, Ovejero, Vetia, Petia, Probisearch, and Zinereo), has five production centres, three R&D&I centres and a staff of 650 people.