Manufacturing drives growth at Wuxi Pharmatech
pharmafile | November 21, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â WuXi PharmaTechÂ
Chinese outsourcing services specialist WuXi Pharmatech reported a 24% increase in third-quarter sales to $104 million thanks to a robust showing from its fast-growing manufacturing division.
Manufacturing Services revenues grew 184%, to $20 million driven by “the ramp-up of our large-scale manufacturing business and robust demand for our research manufacturing business from growing use of integrated drug development services”, commented WuXi’s chief executive Dr. Ge Li.
Manufacturing has been steadily increasing as a proportion of WuXi’s total turnover, from 8% in third-quarter to 2010 to almost 20% at present.
Demand for clinical trial materials (CTM) has been strong in China, according to the company, although the main advance has come from commercial manufacturing of advanced intermediates for Vertex’s hepatitis C therapy Incivek (telaprevir), which is sold in Europe by Johnson & Johnson.
Incivek sales have been soaring since it was approved and launched in May, with sales of nearly $420 million in its first full quarter on the market, making it one of the most successful pharmaceutical product launches of all time.
Li said his company has started investing in a number of facility expansions to support its manufacturing operations, notably a biologics plant at its main site in WuXi, due come online in the second half of 2012, and research-scale small molecule plant that will be completed early next year.
Turning to WuXi’s contract research operations, Li said China-based laboratory services revenues grew 11% to $63 million, led by strong growth in its medicinal chemistry division, along with DMPK/ADME, formulation, toxicology, analytical and bioanalytical services which are “highly differentiated and growing rapidly”.
A comprehensive service offering in biologics will be launched over the next one to two years, he added.
Meanwhile, US lab revenues rose 5% to $21 million, thanks to “double-digit growth in testing revenue [which] more than offset lower revenues from one customer in our tissue processing service”, said Li.
Net profit for the group was more than halved to $21 million from $44 million a year ago, thanks in part to costs associated with its recent acquisitions of biological research reagents specialist Abgent and Chinese CRO MedKey.
“Global R&D outsourcing to China continues to increase going into 2012,” concluded Li.
Phil Taylor
Related Content
WuXi PharmaTech borrows to expand
WuXi PharmaTech has kick started a syndicated loan arrangement in order to borrow up to …
Contract research news in brief
Synteract agrees to by Harrison Clinical Research, WuXi forges JV with PR, plus appointments and …
Pharma manufacturing news in brief
Facility updates from Bristol-Myers Squibb, WuXi PharmaTech, Quotient Clinical, CSM GlobalPharma and SCM Pharma, plus …
