Region / Cities

Rhône-Alpes / Lyon, Grenoble

Sector of activity

Vaccines and diagnostics

Budget

370 million euros of investment

 Objectives

• Consolidate the cluster’s position as world leader in:
  Diagnostics: develop and market new diagnostic testing equipment, tests and follow-up.
  Vaccines: develop new vaccines to prevent major pandemics; improve existing treatment for infectious diseases and viral cancers.
• Develop innovative technologies to accelerate and secure the release of new pharmaceutical products;
• Access new markets: cancer, cardio-vascular diseases, diseases of the immune system, etc.
• Provide a framework for 20 Research & Development projects with different partners;
• Create an Infectious Diseases Research Center (Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie – CRI)

Advantages offered by the cluster

- Lyon, birthplace of biological medicine with the Mérieux Institute, has some of the best specialists and major names in the pharmaceutical industry
- 150 companies and approximately 28 000 jobs in this sector

Main partners

Companies

- 3 world leaders: Merial (veterinary pharmaceutical products); BioMérieux (bacteriological diagnostics); Sanofi Pasteur (human vaccines).
- Numerous small and mid-sized companies in the diagnostics, vaccines and bio-medicines sectors: OPi, Génopoïétic, Protéin’eXpert, Flamel, Aguettant, Genoway, Nucleis, Transat, Antagene, Genome Express
- Numerous international companies: Becton Dickson, Genzyme, STMicroelectronics, Freescale, Philips

Research

- 26 public research laboratories working in all fields of activity
- 2 800 research scientists in the private sector (pharmaceutical R&D laboratories) and the public sector (Lyon Gerland, INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research), CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research), etc).

Training

- 3 000 students
- Centers of excellence: ENS Lyon (Ecole Normale Supérieure – Lyon Higher School), ENS Lettres et Sciences Humaines (Human Sciences), Claude Bernard University – Lyon 1, Institut de Biologie et de Chimie des Protéines (Protein Biology and Chemistry), Fondation Mérieux / Laboratoire P4 Jean Mérieux (Mérieux Foundation and Laboratory), IFR BioScience Gerland (Institut Fédératif de Recherche – Combined Research Institute), CEA Grenoble (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique – Atomic Energy Commission), Nano-biotechnologies project at the Joseph-Fournier University, INSERM P4 laboratory (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale – National Institute of Health and Medical Research), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, and the Lyon/Auverge/Rhône-Alpes Cancer cluster.

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