WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc., a pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device R&D services company with operations in China and the United States, has broken ground on a new facility in Philadelphia for the manufacture of cell therapies. The facility is expected to become operational in the second quarter of 2015.

The new facility will consist of 45,000 square feet of clinical and commercial manufacturing space and will supplement WuXi’s existing 16,000-square-foot cGMP cell-therapy manufacturing facility. The expansion supports increased demand with single-source contract development and cGMP manufacture capabilities for allogeneic and autologous cell-based therapeutics.The new facility will be built using modular design, flexible cleanroom technology, disposable equipment, and microcarrier cell-culture systems.

Located in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the new facility will complement WuXi’s existing facility and capabilities, which include analytical chemistry, cell banking, cell characterization, molecular biology, and lot-release testing, thereby providing integrated services for cell therapies in Philadelphia.

Source: Wuxi PharmaTech