WuXi up on outsourcing; adds HPAPIs to its offerings

03-Jun-2014 - Last updated on 19-Dec-2023 at 14:28 GMT

WuXi adds HPAPI processing services through its subsidiary in Shanghai, China

Related tags Wuxi pharmatech Pharmacology Jiangsu Wuxi

As WuXi talks of a surge in its outsourced manufacturing services, the company has begun offering high-potency active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPIs).

The contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) began processing HPAPIs last week through its subsidiary Syn-The-All Pharmaceuticals at a facility in Shanghai, China. This will support process development and clinical trial supply of high-potency small molecules at kilogram scale.

CEO of WuXi PharmaTech, Ge Li, said “this new service augments WuXi's ability to provide highly efficient and cost-effective solutions for our partners worldwide,” and comes as recent financial results demonstrate a strong demand for both its clinical and commercial manufacturing services.

Earlier this week the firm presented at the Jefferies 2014 Global Healthcare Conference in New York, where management spoke of increasing manufacturing outsourcing. This was described as “encouraging” by analyst David Windley, who noted a number of successes driving growth for the firm.

“Its large-scale manufacturing portfolio has been generated by pull-through from its discovery services labs,” he said, whilst WuXi’s profile has been raised somewhat amongst potential pharma partners through its contract with Pharmacyclics to scoomercially supply the recently approved oncology drug Imbruvica.

Windley also noted WuXi’s rapid growth in its small molecule manufacturing which will be further bolstered by the doubling of capacity and potential for further expansion, when the two-year $100m (€74m) project to construct a new manufacturing plant in Changzhou City, near Shanghai, comes online.

Speaking last month to discuss its Q1 revenues, Li said he expected the site to be completed by the fourth quarter 2015.

He also spoke of the demand for biologics contract services, with the current backlog “north of $50m” with more contracts coming through. In May WuXi beat off competition from both Lonza and Boehringer Ingelheim to manufacture a monoclonal antibody for Taiwan-based firm TaiMed biologics from its Wuxi, China facility, in what was described to our sister publication Biopharma-Reporter.com as “a milestone for the Chinese Biologics Industry.”