Wuxi AppTec says expanded STA will get drugs to market faster
The merger – which was announced in late July – saw Wuxi AppTec combine its drug development services business with its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production business, STA Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.
At the time Wuxi CEO Ge Li said: “The merging of the PDS division into STA is an important step for WuXi” adding that “Providing API and drug product services under one STA entity further strengthens WuXi’s comprehensive CDMO offering.”
The firm said the move will enable China stock exchange listed STA to help customers advance New Chemical Entities from pre-clinical stage to New Drug Application (NDA) and to market faster and more efficiently for pharma and biotech customers.
The merged firm will operate two commercial-scale drug product manufacturing facilities are under construction in Wuxi city, Jiangsu province and in Shanghai.
A spokesman told us "We expect to begin taking on more integrated work with both API and clinical trial supply for early stage products. Then next year, as more projects progress we plan to be providing commercial finished drug product to our customer in addition to commercial API."
"It’s particularly beneficial for our early stage customers, which will now be able use STA for both API and drug product process development and manufacturing. The integrated CMC services will help to expedite their trials and the development cycles."
Wuxi developments
The merger comes just months after STA announced it would hire 100 R&D staff and expand production capacity at its API and intermediates facility in Changzhou, China.
It also follows hot on the heels of STA signing a drug intermediate supply deal with Tesaro Inc for Zejula (niraparib), a small molecule cancer drug that was recently approved in the US.
Wuxi’s formation of a CDMO also comes just a few months after it floated Wuxi Biologics, its biopharmaceutical manufacturing services division, on the Hong Kong Stock exchange.
