Lanxess Corp. has established a new site in Redmond, WA, to serve the pharmaceutical business line of its affiliate, Saltigo GmbH (a subsidiary of Lanxess Deutschland GmbH). The site includes offices, labs and technical facilities and provides Saltigo with U.S.-based pharmaceutical operations. 



Saltigo plans to use the cGMP facilities of the kilo lab and pilot plant to produce APIs for early clinical testing through to Phase IIa. Timothy Fitzpatrick, former associate director of ICOS Corp., will be manager of the Redmond site, overseeing as many as 25 employees. Lanxess Corp.’s sales team will provide sales and marketing support.

The Redmond site will focus on the early lifecycle phases of APIs, in which substances are initially needed on laboratory and pilot scales. For the production of larger volumes, Saltigo has a portfolio of chemistries and technologies, plus expertise in synthesis optimization and process development, at its production site in Leverkusen, Germany.

“The United States is a key center for pharmaceutical innovation, and we’re excited about the opportunities this new facility will provide,” said Wolfgang Schmitz, managing director of Saltigo.

“In this business, it is less a case of developing stable processes for the production of commercial quantities than of achieving flexibility and speed in delivering the substances to ensure the best possible support for API development,” said Dr. Wilhelm Stahl, head of Saltigo’s Pharma business line. “Like the expansion of our cGMP production capacity in Leverkusen, which is now almost complete, in Redmond we have been able to make use of existing facilities and their relevant infrastructure,” Dr. Stahl continued.

Lanxess plans to expand the capabilities of the new site for Saltigo’s activities, improving the infrastructure, facilities in the fields of low-temperature synthesis and CGMP kilo production, and optimizing quality management.