WuXi Bio to Buy Bayer Wuppertal Plant
Through a subsidiary, Shanghai, China-based WuXi Biologics (WuXi Bio) is acquiring Bayer’s biologics substance plant at Wuppertal, Germany, for €150 million ($183.3 million).The transaction, expected to close in the first half of 2021, follows earlier Wuxi Bio purchases of plants the pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals group is shedding in Germany and the US.
In January 2020, the Shanghai biologics producer acquired a Bayer plant at Leverkusen under a similar arrangement. This latest deal is also planned to include a long-term sublease agreement and a transition service contract.
WuXi Bio expects to begin production at its new German plant sometime during 2022. According to press reports, the Chinese firm plans to recruit some 300 staffers for the site over the next two to three years.
Among other biologics, WuXi will use the Wuppertal plant, which currently produces Bayer's Factor VIII hemophilia drug Kovaltry to manufacture drug substances for Covid-19 vaccines and also plans additional investments in process equipment.
Under the new owner, the 30,000m2 facility will house 3x1,000-liter perfusion and 6x2,000-liter fed-batch capacity, boosting WuXi Bio’s global supply network. The company also is said to be planning to install is own disposable bioreactors.
As part of a move announced earlier, Bayer is concentratinf primary manufacturing and filling work on for Kovaltry at its substance and product facility in Berkeley, California, USA.
On its own, WuXi is also setting up shop in the US. In March, last year it announced plans for a $60 million biologics plant in Massachusetts. In May, the company said it would lease a process development lab at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and in June revealed it was taking a ten-year lease on a clinical manufacturing facility in Cranbury, New Jersey.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
