The search for next-gen oncology therapies has sparked an arms race in biopharma to find the next big thing—whether that's in cell and gene therapies or promising antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Eyeing that bustling market, Swiss manufacturing giant Lonza is diving even further into ADCs with a new customer on board.

As part of a tie-up with an undisclosed customer, Lonza will build two manufacturing suites totaling 16,146 square feet dedicated to the commercial production of two cancer fighting ADCs, the company said Wednesday. The newest expansion at Lonza's Visp, Switzerland facility is set to go online at the end of 2022 and will eventually employ 200 workers.

With a growing number of approvals in recent years, ADCs have become a target of major biopharma investment despite the highly specialized manufacturing process required to produce them. Products like Gilead Sciences' Trodelvy and AstraZeneca's Enhertu are both blockbuster candidates, according to analysts, with potential for more winners in the near future.

RELATED: Merck KGaA's MilliporeSigma pumps $65M into new facility for next-generation oncology meds

Lonza isn't the only contract manufacturer making a play at that booming market, either. 

In September, Merck KGaA's MilliporeSigma's unit outlined plans to drop $65 million on a new commercial building near its Madison, Wisconsin plant to boost production of high-potency active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to make ADCs.

The 70,000-square-foot expansion will complement existing work at an additional ADC site in St. Louis—the first commercial ADC facility in North America designed to handle highly active materials, the company said. The expansion will bring on 50 new full-time workers starting next year. Completion of the commercial building is expected to wrap by mid-2022, MilliporeSigma said. 

MilliporeSigma aims to position the new building as one of the largest dedicated high-potency API manufacturing facilities and will equip the site with containment areas to turn out next-generation linker and payload materials for ADCs.

RELATED: Lonza expanding ADC production as pharma business thrives 

Lonza, for its part, telegraphed its intent to expand its ADC offerings back in June 2019, when the firm unveiled plans to expand its Visp site amid new approvals for such therapies.

The ADC industry is expected to grow over the next decade and could reach $15 billion by 2030, according to a report by the European Pharmaceutical Review. Much of that work could be outsourced to dedicated contract manufacturers, which already handle 70% of ADC production, MilliporeSigma said in September.