STA Pharmaceutical (WuXi STA) – a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec – has signed an investment agreement with the government of Shanghai, Jinshan District, China to build a research and development (R&D) site.
The facility will be located next to the firm’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and intermediates manufacturing site, adding 30,000 square meters of laboratory space at the campus.
The firm said it will employ more than 500 scientists within the next two to five years at the center, which it plans to open in 2020.
According to the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), the campus will offer a “one-site solution” for firms looking to advance APIs and intermediates from preclinical and clinical development through to commercial manufacturing.
Spokesperson Yu Lu told us the facility will serve STA’s global customers – the majority of which are based in Europe and the US.
“However, we are also seeing a rapidly rising demand coming from Chinese biotechs, which is a reflection of the booming innovative drug development ecosystem in China,” said Yu.
STA Pharmaceutical merged with WuXi AppTech’s Pharmaceutical Development Services (PDS) in July last year.
Three months later, the newly formed WuXi STA announced plans to launch an API R&D and manufacturing facility in Changzhou, China.