(Yicai) May 23 -- WuXi AppTec started construction work on the Chinese biotech firm’s new facility in Singapore.

Located in the Tuas Biomedical Park, the site covers 50 acres and will be home to seven plants, the Shanghai-based firm said in a press release today. They will provide active pharmaceutical ingredient research, development, and production services for small molecules, oligonucleotides, peptides, and complex synthetic conjugates.

The new facility will be built in phases and should come on stream in 2027, creating 1,600 local jobs. 

“It marks another step forward in WuXi AppTec’s mission to continuously enhance its contract research, development and manufacturing organization platform to better support customers worldwide in advancing healthcare treatments and innovations,” the company said. 

The Singapore site will integrate closely with WuXi AppTec’s existing sites across Asia, Europe, and North America, offering effective CRDMO solutions for new drug R&D from discovery to commercialization with expanded flexibility and scalability, it said. 

WuXi AppTec announced in July 2022 that it would spend SGD200 million (USD143 million) in the next 10 years to build an R&D and production site in Singapore. 

The company made over 80 percent of its revenue overseas last year, its annual report showed. Revenue from the United States and Europe grew 42 percent and 18 percent to CNY26.1 billion (USD3.7 billion) and CNY4.7 billion (USD661.5 million), respectively, accounting for 65 percent and almost 12 percent of the total, while income from China reached CNY7.4 billion, or 18 percent of the total.

Wuxi AppTec’s shares took a battering earlier this year after it was named as a “biotechnology company of concern” in the US Biosecure Act, which would require US businesses to sever ties with it. The stock recovered a little earlier this month after an amendment to the bill extended the decoupling period to eight years.

The shares [SHA: 603259] fell 1.9 percent to CNY43.29 (USD5.98) each in Shanghai today. They are down almost 39 percent since the end of last year.

Editor: Tom Litting