The Riom La Varenne pharmaceutical site is part of the SMO Biopôle Clermont-Limagne for now 10 years.
In February 2013, Schering-Plough/Merck and the SMO Biopôle Clermont-Limagne signed the deed of transfer of the Riom La Varenne site to the SMO. Since then, this former pharmaceutical industrial site has been redeployed as a business hotel and is one of the three hosting sites of the Biopôle Clermont-Limagne, a science park entirely dedicated to the hosting of bio-industries companies.
The Riom site has a capacity of nearly 13,500 m2 spread over 4 hectares, including 7,000 m2 of laboratories equipped with GLP and GMP standards (analytical laboratories, production laboratories) and 5,000 m2 of offices and storage.
Taking over an industrial site designed for the activity of a single company and rethinking it for the hosting of several companies with various activities constituted and still constitutes a major challenge for the SMO but the equipment and qualifications of the site represented a great opportunity for the creation and development of small and medium-sized companies applying for installation.
On the Riom site, tenants can indeed benefit of a secure site, Classified Environmental Protection (ICPE) at the high level of equipment, a rare pharmaceutical infrastructure with notably an animal house of 1200 m2 dedicated to rodents, a kilolab*, an NMR, a high-capacity lyophilizer, remote alarm storage infrastructure and a laboratory aeration system that isolates flows from different areas to avoid cross-contamination.
In 10 years, the Riom site has become a major site for biotech companies in the territory. They are now 10* to be housed there and nearly 120 employees to work there, bringing its occupancy rate to 73%.
