WuXi Pumps $20m into Conjugation and Fill/Finish Site

WuXi Biologics has begun building a biologics conjugation and drug product plant in China to support antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) services.

To be known as DP3, the 6,000m² facility will be the third drug product site for the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and is expected to be open next year.

The facility in Wuxi City, China will offer both clinical and commercial antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) services and will be an extension of similar conjugation and fill/finish operations at WuXi’s Shanghai site, CEO Chris Chen told this publication.

He added the expansion further helps WuXi Biologics to provide a one-stop service for ADCs to its global customers.

“Our client is responsible for licensing the technologies they need for ADC. We are also developing linker payload technologies,” he said.

Hong Kong-listed WuXi Biologics is an affiliate of WuXi Apptec, which has its own CDMO business offering small molecule solutions and ADC payload synthesis, within its STA division.

However, according to Chen there is no technology shared between the two companies, only “potential client referrals.”

On the Up

The US$20 million (€17 million) investment in an ADC facility is just the latest in a recent spate of investments by the biologics CDMO.

Earlier this month, the firm announced a $60 million investment to construct its first US biomanufacturing facility in Worcester, Massachusetts. And that came fresh off the back of plant expansions in Singapore, Ireland, and Northern China.

For those keeping count, the Wuxi City construction is the fifth expansion project in nearly as many weeks, though the first focused on drug product rather than drug substance.