Editor’s Note: “Every drug can be made and every disease can be treated”. Over the past 25 years, from a single laboratory to a global network spanning Asia, Europe, and North America; from early chemical synthesis services to an integrated platform that connects Research (R), Development (D), and Manufacturing (M); from its very first customer to thousands of partners across more than 30 countries, WuXi AppTec has never stopped moving forward to realize its enduring vision.

In tribute to the journey and in celebration of new beginnings, we look back through the eyes of our “dream-makers”: revisiting the stories of partnership that empowered global innovation, and the unique spirit that continues to guide us toward the next chapter.

During a routine meeting, the CEO leaned across the table and said quietly,

“Xiaoyong, you may not realize it, but you helped us launch our cancer drug several months ahead of schedule. It was just months ahead, but it meant thousands of patients started treatment sooner.”

Dr. Xiaoyong Fu remembers the moment vividly. Years have passed since his team at WuXi STA had guided that program from first batch to blockbuster. That company has since been acquired, yet its leaders, now building a new biotech, returned to tour WuXi AppTec sites, walking the same production floors where the drug had first taken shape. “They told me that no matter how the world changes, every product from their new company will be developed with WuXi STA,” Fu recalls. “That is the highest form of trust we can earn.”

Speed with Quality

WuXi STA is WuXi AppTec’s global small-molecule CDMO platform, spanning Asia, Europe, and North America. Its integrated model links Development and Manufacturing within a single Operating System, so molecules can move seamlessly from idea to medicine. APIs and drug products are developed under one quality framework, with analytical methods and safety assessments connected like cogs in a well-tuned machine.

For Dr. Xiaoyong Fu, the executive vice president of WuXi AppTec, and head of WuXi STA, the work is a responsibility: “Our guiding principle is to deliver every project at the highest quality and the fastest speed possible, so our clients gain the greatest benefit.”

That benefit is twofold. Socially, the faster a program advances, the sooner it reaches the clinic, proves itself in human, and becomes a therapy for patients. Even a single day matters, let alone weeks or months. Economically, earlier market entry helps clients recover R&D costs sooner and reinvest earlier, creating a virtuous cycle that brings more medicines to patients in the future.

Speed, however, is not haste. “It’s precision, orchestration, and the discipline to deliver faster without ever lowering the bar,” Fu explains. Consider the first scale-up batch: when a process moves from lab to plant, temperature, mixing, and equipment behavior change dramatically. A failed first batch can mean weeks or months of rework, lost material, and delay. “From lab to plant, that ‘first-time-right’ execution is what matters most to our clients.”

The solution is systemic. During scale-up, tightly coordinated teams move as one. The R&D scientists who developed the process are on site for initial production runs, resolving issues before they escalate. Plant engineers partner closely with R&D to ensure smooth execution. A central planning team coordinates which projects run in which reactors, keeping every program on schedule and safe.

“That’s how we ensure every project proceeds smoothly, efficiently, and without surprises.” Fu says.

The Power of Integration

The first scale-up batch is only one facet of WuXi STA’s integrated system. Process R&D, including formulation process development, is inherently complex. It’s not something that a small team can accomplish alone.

Consider a common scenario: a client asks WuXi STA to make the API but sends formulation to another vendor. Once the API is finished, materials, documents, and methods must be requalified. That handoff can add weeks. “When we finalize an API process and prepare for scale-up plant batch, we typically run a demo batch in lab and prepare representative API material for formulation process development, and launch a series of laboratory DP R&D work in advance,” Fu says. “Without integration, there can be a month or more of idle time between those steps.”

On the other hand, under WuXi STA’s unified quality system, many API analytical methods can be adapted directly for drug-product work, accelerating the downstream development and shaving time from the critical path. Just as important, a dedicated project management team acts as the bridge between internal operations and clients. “Each molecule involves many complex steps during execution,” Fu notes. “If we asked clients to coordinate every detail, it would be overwhelming.” The project management team streamlines the process by connecting every department and discipline, ensuring clear communication and seamless collaboration.

That end-to-end continuity from API to formulation can save one to two months, and in some cases even more.

“For any company aiming for first-in-human, starting a month or more earlier creates tremendous value,” Fu adds. “Our efficiency and integration translate directly into faster progress and greater success for our clients.”

Meet the Challenges

Fu has lived the evolution of modern drug development. Over 30 years in the field have shown him how small molecules have grown ever more intricate, many now exceeding 500 Daltons, defying “Lipinski's Rule of Five,” or other dogmas about what makes a drug “druggable.”

“The easy molecules are gone,” he says, “Today’s molecules are heavier, more complex, and harder to synthesize. But that’s where our strength lies, making the complex possible, and making it fast.”

For example, due to the increasing molecular size and complexity of modern compounds, some molecules have poor bioavailability when developing oral formulations such as tablets or capsules, meaning the compound is barely absorbed in the body.

To meet this challenge and help clients advance better drugs, WuXi STA has invested in spray-drying technology, a proven approach to enhance bioavailability for low-solubility compounds. The company’s global sites offer capabilities from lab scale to commercial scale; at Couvet, Switzerland, a new five-story facility has been completed to house PSD4 equipment, with the spray-drying line expected to be fully operational in early Q4 next year.

As the platform’s capabilities and capacity improve daily, WuXi STA is serving more clients and solving newer challenges. In one case, a partner’s complex candidate began with an overall yield as low as a few dozen parts per million (PPM), “something I’d never seen in decades of chemistry,” Fu says. After teaming up with the client to redesign the route, WuXi STA has since supplied hundreds of kilograms of API to support clinical trials, and is now scaling up to meet the molecule’s potential commercial demand.

In another urgent case, a marketed therapy faced a potential supply halt due to an impurity issue. Within 35 days, WuXi STA developed a process to reject the impurity and verified new analytical methods and produced compliant material at scale to avert the shortage.

“If we hadn’t delivered on time, patients would have faced a shortage,” Fu says. “That’s when you realize our work isn’t just about chemistry; it’s about continuity of care.”

Trust, Translated into Chemistry

From supporting programs through complex regulatory pathways to enabling first-in-class molecules to reach the clinic, WuXi STA’s work is defined by one throughline: trust.

Fu often cites a company credo: “Doing the Right Thing, Doing It Right.”

“That’s what our clients see in us,” he says. “No matter the molecule, no matter the challenge, we deliver with quality, with speed, and with purpose. That’s how we turn science into impact.”