MIDDLETOWN – A Chinese pharmaceutical company is steadily preparing for its $515 million Middletown campus as Delaware officials continue to wait on whether or not Merck will select the state for its next pharmaceutical plant.
Earlier this year, WuXi AppTec made moves to sell off U.S. and United Kingdom therapies units as well as medical device testing amid uncertainty over proposed legislation that would curtail Chinese companies dealings with U.S. companies. But the fate of the Biosecure Act is unknown as President Donald Trump has turned his attention to tariffs and moves to cut government spending in various departments and programs.
Still, WuXi AppeTec continues work on its Middletown campus and anticipates opening the Levels Road site in 2026. It was originally planned to open the first phase of the pharmaceutical campus in 2024.
Overall, 1.74 million square feet is planned for the pharmaceutical campus across seven buildings and would be the largest the company has in the nation. Its American subsidiary WuXi STA had a small manufacturing plant in San Diego, with other locations in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The first phase would include 462,000 square feet across four buildings, each designed to support high-quality pharmaceutical manufacturing and integrating rigorous testing protocols, according to WuXi representatives.
The Middletown plant will produce finished, patient-ready drugs for both the clinical and commercial stages. Inside, it will have advanced production lines, quality control laboratories and packaging operations designed to meet regulatory standards.
“We look forward to opening a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Middletown that will deliver groundbreaking treatments to customers and support the region’s economic growth,” WuXi AppTec U.S. President Richard Connell told the Delaware Business Times in an email. “We are grateful to the State of Delaware and Town of Middletown for their support during the reporting and permitting process, and their strong ongoing commitment to fostering an entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem in the region.”
To help lure WuXi ApptTec here, Delaware offered $19 million in taxpayer-backed grants, including $3.25 million in a job performance grant to hire 479 people by 2026 and a capital expenditure grant of up to $15.3 million to aid in the facility’s construction cost. A grant of up to $500,000 was also approved to help the company to train workforce for the jobs that would be at the manufacturing plant.
The grant package was the largest offered under then-Gov. John Carney’s term and the largest approved by state officials until the state offered a $30 million grant to Merck.
Future jobs at the Middletown pharmaceutical campus include lab professionals, manufacturing and packaging staff, project managers, regulatory specials and supply chain experts. WuXi AppTec plans to recruit from a number of talent pools, regional universities and other industry-specific networks.
WuXi AppTec officials also told DBT that it is working closely with Delaware Technical Community College, Delaware Biotechnology Institute and the Delaware Bioscience Association to develop a training program. The goal is to have that training program ready for the first day of operations.
Looking beyond Delaware, WuXi AppTec has a bright view of this year, despite Trump’s focus on tariffs, including those from China and trade partners Canada and Mexico. WuXi AppTec reported sales of $5.4 billion in 2024 and it expects sales to grow between 10 and 15%, according to the company’s guidance.
