STA Pharmaceutical, a WuXi AppTec group company, has merged with WuXi AppTec’s Pharmaceutical Development Services (PDS) division.

The PDS division offers pre-formulation development, formulation development, as well as clinical trial material (CTM) manufacturing, packaging and labeling of oral solid dosage forms including tablets, capsules, sachets and oral solutions/suspensions. PDS also established various enabling technology platforms for low soluble drugs including spray dried dispersion, hot melt extrusion, micro or nano suspension and liquid-filled hard gelatin capsules. Two commercial-scale drug product manufacturing facilities currently under construction are expected to become operational later this year and early next year, respectively.

STA Pharmaceutical, after this merger, will provide fully integrated small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and drug product solutions to global clients, resulting in a seamless chemistry, manufacturing and control  (CMC) working process. The merger enables STA to advance new chemical entities from pre-clinical stage to new drug application (NDA) and to market faster and more efficiently for pharma and biotech customers.

This development enhanced STA’s end-to-end capabilities as a full-service contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), and it anticipates rapid growth in clinical trial supply, especially amongst early stage targets, where there are practical benefits in working with one CDMO.

“STA has been growing rapidly over the last few years,” said Minzhang Chen, chief executive officer, STA Pharmaceutical. “It was a natural progression for the company to add drug product to our API platform in which we are globally renowned.”

Ge Li, chairman and chief executive officer, WuXi AppTec, said, “The merging of the PDS division into STA is an important step for WuXi. Providing API and drug product services under one STA entity further strengthens WuXi’s comprehensive CDMO offering. Ultimately, our platforms advance vital new medicines through the development cycle faster, allowing our global partners to discover and develop better medicines for patients.”