Wilmington PharmaTech invests USD50M to double US API production capacity

USA—Wilmington PharmaTech, a CRDMO focused on complex custom active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for small molecules, is investing USD 50 million to double production capacity at its Delaware facility.

The company announced the expansion in a March 23 press release, outlining plans to construct two new 10,000-liter reactor suites at the Newark, Delaware site.

The new suites will strengthen the facility’s commercial-scale manufacturing capabilities, supporting large-scale production of both small-molecule drug ingredients and peptides.

Construction is expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2027, at which point the site’s workforce is also set to double.

Building on two decades of manufacturing expertise

Founder and CEO Hui-Yin “Harry” Li, Ph.D., noted that Wilmington has consistently invested in current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) API manufacturing capacity within the United States over the past decade—a period when few other companies pursued similar commitments.

Most recently, the company added two new commercial-scale high-potency API suites to its operations.

According to Li, this latest expansion draws on more than 20 years of cGMP manufacturing expertise and reinforces the company’s capacity to tackle complex chemistry challenges at commercial scale.

Wilmington, founded in 2003, operates from a 54-acre campus in Newark, Delaware, where it runs two adjacent production facilities.

Private equity backing fuels the growth

Private equity firm Curewell Capital is funding the expansion through an investment it announced in October.

While the company did not disclose the exact figure committed to this specific project, Curewell indicated that its total outlay for Wilmington will likely reach into nine figures

Kent Payne, Ph.D., operating partner at Curewell Capital and managing director at Wilmington, expressed the firm’s commitment to strengthening domestic pharmaceutical production.

He stated that Curewell Capital is proud to support Wilmington in expanding high-quality commercial API manufacturing in the United States—a goal that aligns with the broader industry push to reduce dependence on overseas drug ingredient supply chains.