WuXi PharmaTech To Build New Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility

WuXi PharmaTech will soon begin construction of a new, 145,000-ft² cGMP facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the manufacture of cell therapy products, the company announced on Mar. 12, 2015. This facility is designed for cell therapy products that contain viral vectors, such as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapies, and will become WuXi's third cell-therapy manufacturing facility when it becomes operational by mid-2016.

The new facility will provide single-source contract development and cGMP manufacturing capabilities to support the rapidly growing cellular therapeutic industry's unique requirements, particularly the rapidly expanding demand for clinical studies and commercial supply, said the company in a press release. In the US, the new facility will expand upon WuXi's existing 16,000- ft² cGMP cell therapy manufacturing facility and a 45,000- ft² facility  for the manufacturing of allogeneic and autologous cell-based therapeutics that is expected to be completed by mid-2015. These facilities will complement the company's current fully integrated facility for biological safety and lot-release testing in Philadelphia.