Officials break ground for the WuXi STA pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Middletown.
A Chinese pharmaceutical company broke ground in Middletown Tuesday for a 190-acre manufacturing plant expected to open in 2025 and employ 500 people full-time within a year.
It will be WuXi STA‘s second facility in the United States, giving the Shanghai drug company greater capacity and flexibility. It’s the company’s first facility on the East Coast.
Phase I of the new campus at 1091 Industrial Drive will provide formulation development, clinical and commercial drug product manufacturing services for oral and injectable drugs, as well as packaging, labeling, storage and distribution services for clinical trial materials and commercial drug products.
The entire campus is expected to take about five years to build.
WuXi STA, which is considered a contract research, development and manufacturing organization, has 12 sites across the U.S., Europe and Asia. It already has drug manufacturing sites in Couvet, Switzerland; Wuxi City, China; and Shanghai.
Drug company welcome
“We are truly looking forward to our partnership with WuXi STA,” said Middletown Mayor Ken Branner.
He pointed out that the drug company is steps away from Clarios, Datwyler, Amazon and Breakthru Beverage.
“When asked by WuXi STA about our business-friendly attitude, these businesses expressed their wholehearted support for how we do business and we couldn’t be more excited about WuXi STA wanting to join them, and the town of Middletown, in our journey together,” Branner said.
Dr. Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA. and co-CEO of parent company WuXi AppTec, thanks the federal, state and local agencies who had supported the move.
“We look forward to working with our customers to swiftly deliver their innovative therapies to market in order to save lives and improve healthcare for patients.”
The WuXi STA Middletown facility is expected to begin operations in 2025.
Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience, including 15 at The News Journal in Delaware.
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