With plans to build two condominium towers, a Toronto builder has rankled the business next door—a manufacturing plant owned by Sanofi, which worries its vaccine operations could be compromised.
The French drugmaker isn't just concerned about protecting its own secrets. It's also making the case that the high-rise condos are a threat to Canada’s national security, the CBC reports.
With an $850 million contract to supply Canada with vaccines for a future pandemic and plans to expand the facility to produce them, Sanofi says the government should be worried as well.
“The location of hundreds of new residential units with a 24/7 overlook of its sensitive facilities undermines Sanofi’s ability to ensure its ongoing and expanding research and manufacturing facilities are secure,” Sanofi wrote in a letter to city planners.
The development “represents national security concerns given the strategic importance of the site for vaccine manufacturing and future pandemic readiness,” the letter continued.
In March of last year, Sanofi said it was earmarking €600 ($681) million to build a flu vaccine plant in Toronto that would supply Canada, Europe and the United States. The plant is due for completion in 2026.
In its battle over the high-rises, Sanofi has enlisted the help of Councillor James Pasternak, who represents Toronto’s York Centre (Ward 6). Pasternak asked the condo developer, Tenblock, to restrict the height of the buildings to 10 stories, rather than the planned 37 and 31 floors in two towers.
Tenblock told CBC that it has been in talks with Sanofi about the development since 2020. The company already owns a 50-year-old apartment complex at the site. Toronto’s decision on the redevelopment plan is likely more than a year away.
“Due to the sensitive and critical nature of our work, it is our position that the location, proximity and building specifications of the proposed condo developments prevents production security challenges for our ongoing—and expanding—vaccine research and manufacturing,” Sanofi wrote. “Domestic vaccine production capacity is vital to Canada’s ability to respond quickly to potential future public health emergencies.”
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