WuXi STA, a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec, has opened a new continuous manufacturing (flow chemistry) plant at its Changzhou campus in China for large-scale active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and advanced intermediate production. This new expansion marks the company’s continuous effort to enhance its flow chemistry platform in response to the increasing customer demand for safe and sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The new plant features 11 continuous production lines which support 20 types of challenging reactions, including low temperature metallo-organic reactions, photochemical reactions, high-temperature high-pressure reactions, nitration reactions, ozonolysis, etc. With the opening of the new plant, WuXi STA now has multiple flow chemistry R&D labs and a total of 25 continuous manufacturing lines in Shanghai Waigaoqiao, Shanghai Jinshan and Changzhou sites in China.

Committed to process safety and sustainability, WuXi STA started building its flow chemistry capability in 2014 and has to date supported over 500 continuous manufacturing projects, including more than 20 late-stage and commercial projects.

“We are witnessing a fast-growing customer demand driven by the extensive application of flow chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry,” said Xiaoyong Fu, chief technology officer and head of API business at WuXi STA. “As a trusted partner and a global enabler, we will continue to strengthen our flow chemistry platform and accelerate new therapeutics with safer and more cost-effective solutions to benefit patients in need while reducing the environmental impact of large-scale manufacturing.”