Sanofi’s Modulus project wins top honor in the 2026 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards

Sanofi S.A. received the highest distinction in the 2026 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards for its Modulus project, making the project the program’s overall winner.¹ The honor is given within a program that recognizes notable work and new approaches in pharmaceutical facility design, construction and operation.¹ The award therefore places Modulus among the projects recognized for how pharmaceutical facilities are conceived, built and run, rather than identifying a single product or manufacturing method as the winner.¹ The project comprises a pair of manufacturing plants: one in Neuville-sur-Saône, France, and the other in Tuas, Singapore.¹

The judging committee’s chair commended Modulus for bringing together modular building, digital systems and the ability to adapt operations.¹ That combination is reflected in the facilities’ plug-and-produce approach, which is intended to make them highly adaptable.¹ The project also incorporates automation, autonomous mobile robots and digital twin technology as elements of its operating environment.¹ The stated design purpose is to enable fast adjustments for different products and manufacturing approaches, linking the facility’s adaptability to changes in what and how it makes.¹

Both sites use one standardized facility design, so the project applies a common design across its locations in France and Singapore.¹ The shared design is a separate feature from the plug-and-produce system: one describes the design used at the two sites, while the other describes the facilities’ adaptability.¹ The project’s account also connects that adaptability with quick changes to products and manufacturing methods, rather than presenting the facilities as limited to a single production arrangement.¹ The available description identifies two locations and a standardized design, but does not provide a count of products, output, employees or other measures of the project’s scale.¹

The overall result was made public on the evening of October 18, 2026, at the ISPE FOYA Banquet and Awards Celebration.¹ The ceremony took place in Washington, D.C., during the 2026 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo.¹ The announcement also closed the 2026 FOYA program, making the overall-winner notice the conclusion of that year’s awards process.¹ These details establish when and where the result was announced; they do not give a comparative score or describe how far Modulus ranked ahead of other projects.¹

Parag Sane, who chaired the judging committee, said the program has recognized progress in pharmaceutical manufacturing for more than 20 years.¹ Sane’s praise for Modulus focused on its design and the way it brings modular building, digital systems and operational flexibility together.¹ That description provides the judging chair’s stated rationale for highlighting the project, while the award itself identifies Sanofi as the overall winner.¹ The program’s remit is broader than the specific features of Modulus, since it honors achievements and ideas related to pharmaceutical facilities’ design, construction and operation.¹

The Facility of the Year Awards began in 2005 to bring attention to leading projects that make use of innovative technology.¹ The program’s stated purpose places the Modulus recognition within a history of highlighting technology-led facility projects, while the broader awards remit also includes design, building and operation.¹ Sane’s account that the awards have recognized manufacturing advances for more than 20 years is consistent with a program that started in 2005.¹ The 2026 announcement marked the end of that year’s program, but the next awards cycle is already accepting submissions.¹

Submissions for the 2027 FOYA program are open, with the stated closing date falling on December 7.¹ The finalists for that cycle are scheduled to be disclosed at a conference in Long Beach, California, on February 1–2, 2027.¹ Those milestones distinguish the upcoming process from the completed 2026 program: entries remain open, and the finalist announcement is planned for a later event.¹ The information does not state a year for the December 7 submission deadline, so the date is best read as given rather than expanded with an unstated year.¹

The awards are associated with ISPE, a nonprofit organization whose membership exceeds 25,000 and spans more than 120 countries.¹ ISPE was founded in 1980 and has its global headquarters in North Bethesda, Maryland.¹ These details describe the organization behind the awards: its reach is expressed through membership and countries, while its founding and headquarters identify its institutional background.¹ They do not quantify participation in the awards or indicate how many members, countries or facilities were represented in the 2026 competition.¹

The central distinction in the announcement is the overall award to Sanofi’s Modulus project, supported in the description by its two-site structure and the features highlighted by the judging chair.¹ Those features include a modular system, digital technologies and the capacity to adjust products and manufacturing methods, while the two facilities share a standardized design.¹ The award’s context is the FOYA program’s recognition of pharmaceutical facility design, construction and operation, and the announcement concluded its 2026 cycle.¹ With the 2027 submission period open and finalist dates announced, the program has moved from the completed recognition of Modulus to its next awards cycle.¹