At Couvet, Speed has an Address

Editor’s Note: “Every drug can be made and every disease can be treated”. Since 2000, 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, 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.

On a crisp, sunny October morning in Couvet, Switzerland, a request comes into Jamie Andrews’ phone: a client needs a critical clinical batch one month earlier than scheduled; the new deadline is in just four weeks.

Within hours, Andrews has quality, analytical, and project teams in Europe and China moving in parallel. As one team drafts protocols, another pulls testing windows forward and untangles the supply paths. 

“There’s always a way to get things done,” Andrews says. For the head of WuXi AppTec’s Couvet site, that steady composure is built from a career of hopping hemispheres and stitching together production lines that span continents.

A Global Life, a Global Mandate

Andrews began his career in Australia, trained as an engineer. More than 20 years in pharma took him from Australia to England, Ireland, and finally Switzerland in 2010. He joined WuXi AppTec in 2021, bringing a distinctly international lens, borne from a career spent reading problems from multiple time zones at once.

His global background matters because Couvet’s daily work is international by design. Set in the center of Europe, the site supports clients across Europe, the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond, and has recently added GMP certifications that open doors in markets such as Brazil and Turkey. It is the hub for manufacturing, packaging, and testing late-stage clinical and commercial oral solid drug products, plugged directly into WuXi AppTec’s “follow the molecule” network from discovery to launch. “We enhance supply chain flexibility for our clients, providing a cost-effective option to deliver high-quality drug products to patients worldwide,” Andrews says.

Behind that reach are capacity and capability. “There’s already been significant investment at our site,” Andrews says. In recent years, the site has installed new oral-solid-dosage technologies such as dry granulation, wet granulation, and OEB4 high-containment equipment to support a broader range of client needs. 

“Additionally, we have doubled manufacturing and packaging capacities,” he continues. In 2025, the lines can turn out up to 2 billion tablets and 250 million capsules a year, and package 150 million blister packs, plus 15 million bottles annually. 

A Global CRDMO for Global Customers

Couvet’s advantage lies in how it operates within WuXi AppTec’s global CRDMO system (Contract Research, Development, and Manufacturing Organization). “Our customers like to work with one company,” Andrews says. “Often, after partnering with other WuXi AppTec teams in early clinical stages, they are ready to commercialize, and that is where our site comes in.” By completing journeys that begin at sister sites around the world, Couvet delivers products through global synergy and a seamless handover.

Andrews points to two moments that show how the network supports clients in complex projects. In one program, a client was preparing a commercial launch of a complex product, and sourcing key materials on time was challenging. Few vendors could deliver within the window. 

“By leveraging the strength of our global network, we were able to successfully secure all the materials and keep the project on track.” Andrews said. A team in Shanghai secured the materials quickly, while a project management team streamlined activities in parallel, so no step idled in the middle.

With the support, the Couvet site delivered the results ahead of expectation. “That allowed us to meet the client’s launch schedule and most importantly, deliver the drug products to patients without delay.” Andrews says.

In another example, teams across Shanghai, Wuxi City, and Couvet collaborated closely, quickly aligned the manufacturing process and completed an NDA submission successfully.

According to Andrews, this is why customers increasingly seek partners with a true global footprint, not just a single manufacturing location but multiple qualified sites around the world, so that supply is resilient and secure.

Global Spirit, Locally Established

Serving globally is easier said than done. At Couvet, a single bulk batch can be packaged and released for Europe, North America, or Asia Pacific. A harmonized global quality system keeps outcomes consistent. “We have the same policies, the same procedures, the same document management systems across all our sites to ensure we produce the same high level of quality,” Andrews said, “and, most importantly, to protect patient safety.”

To Andrews, however, global reach does not mean losing sight of local roots. Originally a commercial manufacturing site within a large pharmaceutical company, the Couvet site built a strong quality track record with European authorities and the FDA, and it has maintained excellence in commercial manufacturing.

From Andrews’s window, the Jura Mountains roll away into green grass and forest. Environmental stewardship matters in Switzerland, and it shows in his team’s operations. The site integrates sustainability into daily practice, generating 175 MWh of renewable energy annually from rooftop solar panels, enough to charge a mobile phone every day for 50,000 years. Alongside wastewater treatment and materials recycling, the site earned a Silver EcoVadis medal, placing it in the top 9% of rated companies.

It also stays close to its community, from engaging local suppliers on expansion projects to turning the company Christmas party into a small marketplace where regional artisans and producers were invited to sell their goods. “We are part of an ecosystem here,” Andrews says. “We try to contribute to it.”

Building for What’s Next

The next chapter at Couvet is already framed in scaffolding. Just beyond the packaging halls, crews are installing a commercial PSD-4 spray-drying suite built for the kind of tricky, low-solubility compounds that clients increasingly ask for. The structure is slated to be operational in Q4 2026. Looking further ahead: Andrews’ team is laying the groundwork for parenteral drug-product capabilities, including injectable manufacturing lines and lipid-nanoparticle technologies, so a client can move from tablets and capsules to sterile formats without leaving the WuXi AppTec global enabling platform.

Scale is another multiplier. Having doubled manufacturing and packaging capacity, Couvet can absorb programs with heavier volume profiles and give clients room to ramp a launch, to ride demand spikes, to consolidate supply under one roof. 

“One of the things I really appreciate about working at WuXi AppTec is the challenge that comes every day. It's like being on an adventure. I am doing different things every day.” Andrews says. “That's my day-to-day job, bringing innovative products to patients. That's what really motivates me.”