WuXi STA, a US-based contract research, development, and manufacturing company and subsidiary of WuXi AppTec, opened an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility at the Taixing site in Jiangsu, China, in January 2024.
The facility expanded the company’s capacity, facilitating the acceleration of drug development, and securing a dependable supply chain for the worldwide collaborators.
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The construction of the facility, which is WuXi STA’s first in Taixing, officially started in April 2021. The commissioning of the plant in January 2024 signifies its official commencement as WuXi AppTec’s latest and largest facility among its five API production facilities.
The complete operationalisation of the first phase at the Taixing site is expected in 2025.
The facility, along with another newly opened manufacturing plant at the company’s Changzhou facility, has expanded the solid-phase peptide synthesis total reactor volume of the company to 32,000 litres, meeting the rising worldwide need for peptide therapeutics.
Location
The new facility is located within the Taixing Economic Development Zone in Jiangsu, China.
The site supports superior local infrastructure and talent and further enhances the company’s contract development and manufacturing organisation platform capability to address global demand.
WuXi AppTec’s manufacturing plant details
Spanning a total area of 169 acres, the Taixing site is designed to manufacture a wide range of synthetic molecules such as small molecules, peptides, oligonucleotides, and conjugates.
First-phase development at the Taixing site spans over an area of 53 acres, which will include nine plants with a total reactor volume of more than 1,000m3, including a dedicated plant for API clean rooms. It will have a manufacturing capacity of more than 100 tonnes (t) of drug substances a year.
Upon the full operationalisation of the first phase, the company’s cumulative reactor volume dedicated to small molecule API and intermediate manufacturing is set to exceed 4,000m3.
WuXi AppTec’s Taixing manufacturing site features
The peptide plant utilises the latest digital operation systems with automated solvent delivery. It optimises production consistency, minimises human errors, and lowers production cycle time.
It features WuXi TIDES, which is an end-to-end contract research, development, and manufacturing organisation (CRDMO) platform that provides integrated services for oligonucleotides, peptides, and conjugates. It includes API and drug products from discovery to commercial stages.
WuXi TIDES supported approximately 50 preclinical to commercial-stage peptide projects and manufactured more than 15t of peptide APIs and intermediates in 2023. With the expansion of capacity, WuXi TIDES will support further peptide therapeutic developments for clients worldwide.
Marketing commentary on WuXi AppTec
WuXi AppTec provides customers with a broad portfolio of research and development and manufacturing services for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries across the world. With operations across Asia, Europe, and North America, it aims towards the advancement of discoveries and deliver groundbreaking treatments to patients.
WuXi AppTec also helps customers improve the productivity of advanced healthcare products through its cost-effective and efficient solutions. It offers end-to-end services, including chemistry drug CRDMO, biology discovery, preclinical testing and clinical research services, and cell and gene therapies contract testing, development and manufacturing organisation.
The company received an AA environmental, social and governance rating in 2023 from Morgan Stanley Capital International. Its open-access platform enables 6,000 customers from across 30 countries to help those in need.
The launch of the new peptide manufacturing plant by WuXi AppTec in Changzhou, China, and the development of the new Taixing site will enhance the company’s capability and capacity to provide innovative therapies to patients worldwide.
