Lonza Launches Media Development Lab to Optimize Media Formulations
The new service, which is available at Lonza’s Singapore site, aims to help bioprocessing customers improve scalability, reduce manufacturing risk, and accelerate development timelines.
Lonza has announced the opening of its new Media Development Lab at its Singapore site to expand its capabilities in cell culture media services and support customers across Asia and beyond. The lab, operational since March 2026, aims to strengthen early-stage bioprocess development by optimizing media formulations and enabling smoother transitions into GMP manufacturing (1).
The Switzerland-based CDMO said the new offering will help biopharma developers overcome common challenges linked to process scale-up and late-stage reformulation. As cell and gene therapy pipelines expand and greater complexity enters bioprocess workflows, the lab will support firms that face difficulties aligning upstream development with large-scale production requirements.
Lonza’s new service applies a systematic, data-driven approach to media optimization, using Design of Experiments (DoE) methodology to evaluate multiple variables simultaneously and enable researchers to identify critical performance drivers more efficiently and reduce iterative rounds of testing. The process will draw on Lonza’s proprietary media and feed libraries, integrating manufacturability insights to pinpoint robust, scalable formulations that can withstand the demands of commercial production.
“We are committed to providing customers with the services they need to reduce early-stage risk and select media formulations that are effective at a laboratory scale and simultaneously practical and reliable in manufacturing,” said Michael Goetter, Head of Bioscience, Specialized Modalities, Lonza, in a company press release (1). “Our new Media Development Lab enables us to support customers at the critical front end of their programs, shape formulation strategy, and create a natural pathway into non-GMP and GMP manufacturing.”
Lonza’s Media Development Lab builds on two decades of strategic investment in Singapore’s Tuas Biomedical Park, starting in 2005 with mammalian manufacturing expansions in 2007 and cell therapy capabilities in 2009 (2). The launch complements the site’s biologics operations amid Asia’s booming biopharma hub, positioning Lonza to deliver end-to-end support for next-generation therapies.
References
Lonza. Lonza Launches Media Development Lab in Singapore for Cell Culture Media Optimization. Press release, March 26, 2026.
Lonza. Singapore. Lonza.com (accessed April 6, 2026).