ISPE Announces 2026 Facility of the Year Awards Category Winners
ISPE’s FOYA program recognizes state-of-the-art projects using innovative technologies to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicines, and demonstrate advances in project delivery for the benefit of humanity.
Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) judges named eight category winners plus two honorable mentions at the 2026 ISPE Europe Annual Conference held 20–22 April in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the eight category winners placed in two categories.
The award-winning projects were selected from a pool of impressive submission finalists and span the categories of Innovation, Operations, Supply Chain, Pharma 4.0™, Social Impact, and Honorable Mention. Category winners will also be formally recognized, and an overall winner will be announced at the 2026 FOYA Banquet and Awards Celebration, which will take place on 18 October during the 2026 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo in Washington, D.C., USA.
The 2026 FOYA category winners are outlined next.
FOYA Category Social Impact – Unmet Medical Needs
AstraZeneca’s Commercial Cell Therapy Facility in Rockville, Maryland, USA
The project mission was to accelerate AstraZeneca’s ambition to make next-generation cell therapy a reality, scaling globally to meet patient demand with uninterrupted access. By applying novel design standards, cross-industry risk methodologies, and fully electrified, resource-efficient systems, AstraZeneca has delivered a replicable roadmap for sustainable, patient-first biomanufacturing at commercial scale.
FOYA Category Operations – Operational Excellence & Pharma 4.0™
Bayer AG’s SOLIDA-1 facility in Leverkusen, Germany
SOLIDA-1 is a next-generation pharmaceutical manufacturing plant that redefines industry standards in modularity, adaptability, digitalization, and automation. Bayer won the Operations – Operational Excellence category for setting a new standard through fully automated, modular, and digitally integrated manufacturing. It boosts efficiency (+20% overall equipment effectiveness), reduces workforce needs by 50%, and accelerates time to market for critical medicines. Bayer won the Pharma 4.0™ category for combining cutting-edge technology with an unprecedented level of end-to-end automation. The facility is designed to bring innovative, complex medicines to patients faster than ever, ensuring that critical therapies reach those who need them most.
FOYA Category Supply Chain
Since its founding, BSP Pharmaceuticals has been fully dedicated to oncology and complex therapies, building an advanced and highly specialized facility for ADCs designed to meet the most demanding requirements of innovation, quality, and patient safety. BSP Pharmaceuticals eliminated a major ADC manufacturing bottleneck by fully integrating drug substance conjugation and sterile fill-finish within a single facility and quality system. This end-to-end model removes multisite handoffs, reduces risk, and accelerates time to market for complex oncology therapies.
FOYA Category Operations – Project Execution
Eli Lilly & Company’s Lilly Concord manufacturing site in Concord, North Carolina, USA
Lilly’s Concord manufacturing site exemplifies advanced pharmaceutical production through cutting-edge automation and digital systems. Through disciplined governance, replication of proven platforms, aggressive modularization, and digital-twin-enabled commissioning, Lilly delivered a fully automated, digitally integrated, GMP-compliant manufacturing campus at industry-leading speed.
FOYA Category Innovation – Novel Technology
Hepalink’s mission was to establish a pioneering 5G-enabled smart manufacturing hub for enoxaparin sodium injections with a capacity of 330 million units per year. The Shenzhen Hepalink Pingshan facility pioneered a fully digital, next-generation manufacturing model integrating 5G connectivity, zero-touch logistics, and artificial-intelligence-driven inspection with 100% defect detection. Its advanced solutions for high-viscosity drug production, digital twin integration, and space-efficient design set new industry benchmarks for efficiency, sterility, and automation.
FOYA Category Innovation – Facility of the Future
Sanofi S.A.’s Modulus project in Neuville-sur-Saône, France, and Tuas, Singapore
Modulus delivers on Sanofi’s mission to redefine the possible in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and public health response by creating the world’s first fully modular, digitally native, multiproduct production platform. The Modulus facilities project stands out as transformative achievement of biopharmaceutical manufacturing with operation agility and flexibility, innovative and replicable modular systems, and digital and AI-powered operation.
FOYA Category Social Impact – Sustainability Efforts
Takeda’s Advanced Heat Pump Demonstrator (AHEAD) project in Vienna, Austria
Takeda’s AHEAD project was to achieve what was once considered impossible: generating high-pressure steam using a heat pump powered entirely by renewable electricity. By combining breakthrough technology, data-driven execution, and a commitment to openness, it sets a new benchmark for sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing and delivers lasting value for patients, society, and the planet.
FOYA Category Honorable Mention
Chugai Pharma Manufacturing Co., Ltd.’s FJ3 project in Fujieda City, Japan
The project aimed to boost active pharmaceutical ingredient production capacity by creating a new manufacturing facility at the Fujieda plant. Com-pleted in 36 months, it adhered to global GMP standards and included innovative containment solutions, automation technologies, and a seismic design for earthquake resilience, ensuring flexibility for diverse products and processes.
FOYA Category Honorable Mention
FUJIFILM Biotechnologies’ Holly Springs Galaxy project in Holly Springs, North Carolina, USA
The mission was to build a transformative biomanufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, and thereby create a scalable, resilient, and rapid drug manufacturing hub that could meet global needs quickly and precisely. The FUJIFILM Biotechnologies Holly Springs project represents a strong example of innovation in large-scale biologics manufacturing because of its application of modular replication, digital delivery, and strong safety culture.
About the ISPE FOYA Program
Established in 2005, the FOYA program recognizes state-of-the-art projects utilizing new, innovative technologies to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicines, and demonstrate advances in project delivery. The FOYA program provides a platform for the pharmaceutical science and manufacturing industry to showcase its accomplishments in facility design, construction, and operation, while sharing the development of new applications of technology and cutting-edge approaches.
