WuXi AppTec, a contract provider of drug discovery and development services, has opened a new 150,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility for cell and gene therapies in Philadelphia.

The facility is designed for cell-therapy products that use viral vectors such as chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T cell) therapies. The facility will also permit expansion of viral-vector manufacturing to support gene therapy clinical and commercial programs and will permit large-scale production in 2,000-liter single-use bioreactors. When fully configured, the new facility could employ an additional 200 manufacturing and support staff.

The facility supplements WuXi’s existing 20,000-square-foot cGMP cell therapy manufacturing facility as well as a 50,000-square-foot facility for the commercial manufacturing of allogeneic and autologous cell-based therapeutics.

Source: WuXi AppTec