Lonza to invest 31.5 mln euros in Czech plant

...the country's investment agency said on Tuesday.

Lonza, which is increasingly relying on the higher-margin biopharmaceutical business, would supply U.S.-based Altus Pharmaceuticals , said the CzechInvest agency.

"The main goal is to expand the production of biotechnology products, namely high-value products, such as pharma-grade enzymes," Marcela Cechova, the site manager of Lonza Biotec, was quoted as saying in a statement.

Lonza has already invested more than 140 million euros and employs more than 350 people in the central Bohemian plant.

CzechInvest has focused on luring investment into high-tech and other sectors employing skilled labour, shifting focus away from mostly assembly factories in the thriving automotive industry relying on blue-collar workers.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]