WuXi Biologics to Build US Biologics Production Facility

WuXi Biologics will invest $60 million and hire approximately 150 employees to establish a biologics clinical and commercial manufacturing facility in Worcester, MA, the company announced in a June 11, 2018 press release. The facility will be WuXi Biologics’ eleventh global drug substance manufacturing facility and its first in the United States. Earlier in 2018, the company announced plans to build facilities in Singapore and Ireland.

This state-of-the-art “facility of the future” in the US will be built upon the novel approach that WuXi Biologics has pioneered in deploying single-use bioreactors. It is also designed to run continuous bioprocessing. A total of approximately 4500 L of bioreactor capacity will be installed with two, 2000-L traditional fed-batch bioreactors and one 500-L perfusion-based continuous process. This facility will handle both clinical and small-volume commercial production. An early-stage bioprocess development lab will also be included.

“Metropolitan Boston is acknowledged as a leader in the biopharmaceutical industry. The new site plays a key role in WuXi Biologics’ global biomanufacturing network to ensure that biologics are manufactured at the highest quality and within a robust supply chain to benefit patients worldwide. We are grateful for all the support local agencies and the talented people here have provided for us. We believe we can quickly push forward this exciting project,” said Dr. Ge Li, chairman of WuXi Biologics, in the press release.

Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, added: “The new site will undoubtedly meet WuXi Biologics’ growing need for biologics development and manufacturing in the near future. Many partners of WuXi Biologics are located within two hours of this new site. We are all very excited to initiate our first US site to enable local companies and expedite biologics development in the United States. We are committed to becoming the most comprehensive capability and technology platform in the global biologics industry to enable both local and global partners.”

Source: WuXi Biologics.