Ceva Sante Animale makes Laval its global hub for innovation in the companion animal sector

Laval, 25 June 2019 - Ceva, France’s largest veterinary biopharmaceutical company, has consolidated its investments in Mainland France, specifically in Laval, where it has established its global hub for innovation in the companion animal sector. This...

€25 million in state-of-the-art industrial infrastructure

Since its acquisition of Sogeval (2014), Ceva Santé Animale has made its Laval site its worldwide center of expertise, devoted to the companion animal sector.

The Ceva Laval Campus has an innovative organizational model, which brings together in one campus all the human and industrial skills required for the development, production and rapid delivery of an innovative product offering, aligned with market needs. The R&D team are interconnected with the quality assurance, production, and supply chain divisions, backed by field support offices.

To sustain this state-of-the-art industrial infrastructure project, the Ceva Group has made a total investment of €25 million in Laval, including €7.5 million for the construction of a new 3,600 m² campus.

With a dynamic, fluid and open architecture created by Thomas Bonnier of the Topos Architecture firm in Nantes, the campus is home to 1,000 m² of laboratories, shared between R&D and quality control, a manufacturing laboratory, common spaces for the development of collaborative work, a showroom and an amphitheater.

Thanks to this optimized spatial organization, the new facility promotes the convergence of skills, so as to make the Ceva Laval Campus an open ecosystem, promoting product and managerial innovation.

10 new products launched in the next 5 years

Each year, Ceva Santé Animale devotes more than 10% of its turnover to research and innovation. A total of 500 researchers work for the Group at 12 R&D centers around the world. It is a decentralized organization that offers a large degree of autonomy and provides access to a network of international experts (institutes, universities, start-ups, etc.).

In Laval, the multidisciplinary team of 30 researchers specializes in dermatology and palatable tablets for oral administration.

From technological intelligence and research into innovative active ingredients to product formulation and international evaluation and registration, the development of a new product may take from 6 to 8 years.
Within 5 years, the Ceva Laval Campus plans to release 10 new drugs, predominantly for the European and American markets, the latter being the biggest in the pets sector.

The leader in Canine Dermatology, both in France and the USA

With a team of formulators with expertise in dermo-cosmetics, the campus is developing a complete offering of solutions to help manage skin problems in dogs and cats. Its teams partner with veterinarians, scientific experts and a network of active owners to develop high-performance products that are as pleasant as they are easy to use. Added to this line of dermo-cosmetics is a complete offering of therapeutic solutions for the management of skin conditions, including atopic canine dermatitis, which affects between 10% and 15% of dogs worldwide.

The first laboratory in the world to develop palatable dosage for cats

Ceva Laval Campus also has expertise in oral dosage forms, which make the administration of tablets easier to encourage treatment compliance: patented dosage forms, customized for use in dogs and cats (quarter-scored or oblong tablets), with precise and adjustable dosages (clover-shaped splittable tablets) and good palatability (specific flavors and ingredients). This innovative approach has now resulted in a wide therapeutic range including antibiotics and drugs for cardio-nephrology, pain management or dermatological use.

The Ceva Group has also been proactive in raising awareness and support amongst veterinarians and the general public for the rationale use of antibiotics in dogs and cats: "as little as possible, only as much as necessary". To assist practitioners, it has in particular developed its Guide to Rational Anti-Microbial Use (GRAM), which was designed by ten independent and recognized experts from several European countries, and offers an educational kit to raise public awareness (videos, posters, leaflets, etc).

An innovative working environment to generate appealand high performance

Though the Ceva Group is experiencing exponential growth (+12% on average, each year since 1999), it seeks above all to preserve its agility. That was the intention behind the design of the new campus at Laval.

With a focus on short, sustainable, responsible chains, Ceva has organized its workspaces in collaboration with local companies and its associates, so as to:

  • promote employee well-being with an architectural design intended to provide a quiet, studious, modern, and human-scale environment. The spacious and bright central corridor, which serves 3 buildings, makes meetings easy to hold and is conducive to more interaction amongst departments. Light-filled and adorned with natural and traditional materials, these new buildings provide a peaceful working environment with a warm and friendly touch.
  • create an attractive, agile, and stimulating work environment with new types of open, collaborative and modular space: workcafé, amphitheater, phonebox, co-working spaces... and a Lab Workshop that allows experimentation with new technologies such as 3D printers, immersive virtual reality headsets and a collaborative touch table.
  • offer new opportunities. Designed for and by employees, these new spaces reinvent individual and collective interaction; exchanges are more fluid, services are de-compartmentalized, hierarchical divisions tend to fade, and spontaneous initiatives are encouraged, such as the development of sports and cultural activities by employees (Pilates classes, a choral society, a library space...).

To support its development, the Ceva Laval Campus expects to create 20 to 30 new jobs per year, driven by its R&D, quality assurance and production activities.

>>For royalty-free images  click HERE

>>For PDF version : Ceva_CP_CampusLaval_EN.pdf

>>For Corporate press kit click HERE

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