Wuxi agrees €150 million deal to buy Wuppertal drug substance facility from Bayer

Acquisition will extend the Chinese CDMO’s European footprint and will complement Leverkusen drug product site

The companies also plan to enter into a long-term sublease agreement and a transition service contract. The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first half of 2021.

The 30,000-square-meter facility includes 3x1000L perfusion and 6x2000L fed-batch capacity with independent downstream suites and will complement Wuxi’s drug product facility in Leverkusen as both will be used for commercial manufacturing of OCIVD-19 vaccines and other biologics, Wuxi said.

Bayer will provide services and contribute its own resources as WuXi Biologics ramps up the Wuppertal plant for production.

The two facilities are expected to be ready for drug substance and drug product manufacturing by 2021. 

“This new facility will be a key component of our ‘Global Dual Sourcing’ strategy, demonstrating great synergy with our existing network,” said Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics.

Back in June, WuXi signed a 10-year lease for a clinical manufacturing facility in Cranbury, New Jersey, its third US site. Earlier in the year it announced plans to build a 107,000-sq. ft clinical and commercial manufacturing facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, and also leased a 33,000-sq. ft site for a process development laboratory in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.