把不可能变为可能：药明康德的产能跃升与全球信赖 | 逐梦者说 | Bilingual

编者按：“让天下没有难做的药，难治的病”，是初心，更是愿景。自成立以来，药明康德步履不停：从一间实验室，到覆盖亚洲、欧洲和北美的全球网络。从早期的化学合成服务，到贯穿研究（R）、开发（D）和生产（M）的一体化平台。从第一位客户，到全球三十多个国家的数千合作伙伴。不断发展的，是规模与能力；始终坚守的，是梦想与承诺。

致敬来时路，共谱新篇章！在这一系列访谈中，我们以“逐梦者”视角，回顾药明康德成长发展的峥嵘岁月，回望赋能客户创新的并肩往事，更以独特的“药明精神”展望未来新篇章。

2001年盛夏，阳光透过梧桐树叶，在上海外高桥的街道上洒下斑驳光影。年轻的张峰带着憧憬，第一次以正式员工的身份走进药明康德的办公区。

巧合总在不经意间悄然降临。就在同一天，这家刚刚成立8个月的年轻公司，正在拍摄员工宣传片。张峰也客串了一回“群众演员”，对着镜头露出青涩而灿烂的笑容。那次偶然的拍摄，定格了他在药明康德最初的模样。

那时的他未曾预料，这家尚在起步阶段的公司，将在未来二十五年间成长为赋能全球三十多个国家、数千家合作伙伴的一体化CRDMO平台；也没有想到，自己会在这段征程中并肩前行二十余载，亲历商业化生产从无到有、不断跃升的全过程。

如今，张峰已担任药明康德高级副总裁，原料药生产业务部负责人。回望初入公司的时光，令他记忆犹新的，不仅是团队围绕项目热烈讨论的浓厚学习氛围，还有一个看似不经意的“玩笑”，悄然影响了他在药明康德的职业航向。

图片来源：123RF

产能建设历程：“把不可能变为可能”

入职不到半年时，张峰曾半开玩笑地说道：“做几克的小实验太慢了，我们能不能做得再多一点？”

一句看似轻描淡写的提议，却像一粒投入湖面的石子，激起了远超预期的涟漪——很快，一个规模达两吨的放大项目，落在了这个年轻人的肩上。

这是一次前所未有的挑战与机遇。在实验室的灯光下，张峰带领团队反复优化每一个反应路线，精益求精地提升着每一分效率。最终，他们不仅圆满完成了任务，更以超出预期的成果，证明了药明康德具备将实验成果成功放大的能力。

2002年，药明康德决定自建工厂，为合作伙伴提供商业化生产服务。随着金山工厂正式投入运营，那位曾希望“做得再多一点”的年轻人，也肩负起生产负责人的重任。

从此，药明康德的全球产能建设画卷徐徐展开，一笔一画，已然持续描绘了二十余载。

如今，药明康德已在亚洲、欧洲和北美拥有二十多个研发和生产基地，并且产能扩建的脚步仍在加速。根据2025年三季度财报，药明康德多肽固相合成反应釜总体积已提升至超过10万升，提前完成年度目标；小分子原料药反应釜总体积也预计将在年底超过400万升，为全球客户的生产项目提供坚实支撑。

产能的跃升，也直观反映在项目数量的增长上。以小分子为例，根据三季度财报，药明康德现有80个商业化项目，同比增长18%。前三季度，小分子商业化和临床3期项目新增15项。

数年前，张峰团队曾经历过一次产能建设的极限考验。

当时，药明康德承接了合作伙伴一款口服药的原料药（API）生产任务。项目要求团队从零开始建成一个全新车间并投入使用，而整个周期只有不到四个月。

看到项目周期，就连身经百战的张峰也倒吸了一口凉气。“按照常规进度，这几乎是不可能完成的任务。”张峰坦言，当时建设条件尚不成熟，各种挑战接踵而至。

尽管任务艰巨，团队还是选择了迎难而上。他们深知，每一粒药片背后，都连接着患者的希望。秉持“做对的事，把事做好”的价值观，公司内部各部门凝聚合力，通过一系列精益运营策略，大幅缩短了建设与爬坡时间，最终顺利完成交付，确保了客户的药品能够快速推向市场。

这正是药明康德“把不可能变为可能”的真实写照。

图片来源：123RF

追求极致，为生产提效率

“在生物医药行业，提升研发生产效率的关键在于破解两个核心课题：一是第一次就把事情做对（First Time Right），二是持续提升产能利用率。”张峰总结道。

他清楚地记得，为攻克这两大课题，药明康德在过去二十多年中，如何用一项项扎实的精益运营举措，不断挑战效率的极限。

为提高首次正确率而成立的专项小组，通过系统优化，在短短几年内将操作的准确率提高了两个数量级。

在提高产能利用率方面，项目组通过精细化排程管理，让设备发挥出最大效能。“就像用搭积木的方式，让空闲的设备搭得更满，让项目能准时进、准时出，避免一个项目的延误对后续所有项目造成连锁影响。”张峰形象地比喻。

通过排程优化、提升设备清洗效率、维修管理方案创新等一系列举措，公司整体产能利用率从最初不足50%，提高到了目前的72%，已逐步接近理论极限。

创新技术的应用，同样为生产效率注入了新的活力。“只有重视能力建设，保持创新技术能力的不断提高，才能支持业务的持续发展。”张峰强调，这既是行业发展的必然趋势，也是药明康德多年来的实践。

近年来，喷雾干燥、流动化学、酶催化、结晶等创新技术能力快速发展，为解决传统手段难以应对的研发生产挑战提供了全新路径。基于独特的CRDMO模式，药明康德能够前瞻性地捕捉到这些创新技术的变革性潜力，提前布局技术平台。

以酶催化技术为例，其具备反应条件温和、收率高、杂质少等优势，已经在新药研发和生产中大放异彩。“这项技术有时能将五步反应缩成一步，极大提升了反应效率，”张峰表示，“由于多数用水做溶剂，酶催化反应在环保、安全性方面也表现出显著优势。”

如今，药明康德已建立了生物酶催化工艺技术平台，为全球客户提供一站式的解决方案。根据公开信息，药明康德子公司合全药业开发了20多种生物酶催化反应类型，其酶催化技术从2024年10月到2025年9月，共运用到110多步生产中，交付了90多吨产品。

“这些创新技术的广泛应用，以及扎实的全面能力建设，让我们在面对客户的复杂工艺挑战时更有信心，更有底气。”张峰的话语中透着自信。

100%成功率，铸就“可靠的合作伙伴”

信任，是在一次次考验中淬炼而成的真金。其中一次考验，至今让张峰记忆犹新。

那是一个来自老客户的订单——就在前一年，药明康德刚为该客户顺利交付了数吨产品。当客户再次发来订单时，张峰心中既欣喜，也感受到了肩头沉甸甸的分量。

欣喜，源于客户给出了更大的订单，这无疑是对药明康德生产能力最直接的信任。压力，则来自于成倍增长的产量需求与并未延长的交付周期。

尽管药明康德近年来前瞻性地持续扩建产能，然而面对成倍增长的任务，挑战依旧严峻。

关键时刻，在药明康德CRDMO模式的高效协同下，各团队如精密齿轮般无缝衔接。多套设备的工艺验证与产能扩增在短时间内完成；精益运营举措也同步发力，有效缩短了生产周期。

最终，团队以100%的成功率，如期完成了两倍于上一年的生产任务。交上这份满分答卷后，药明康德赢得了客户的高度评价，成为客户心目中“可靠的合作伙伴”。

图片来源：123RF

“速度不仅意味着竞争力的提升，更意味着新药能够更早到达患者手中，”张峰说这句话时，眼神坚定，“对客户是商业价值，对患者则是生命的希望。”

回望张峰在药明康德二十余年的职业生涯，类似的经历并不少见。每一次合作伙伴的“回头”订单，每一次客户在参观工厂时对设备先进性、团队专业度与运营管理体系的高度评价，都在诉说着这段旅程的价值。

每一份来自客户的信任，都让张峰深感责任重大，也备受鼓舞。“我们始终致力于将生产平台建设得更高效、更卓越。这是我们对客户信赖最好的回应。”张峰的话语中，饱含着二十余年如一日的热忱。

奔赴下一个25年

从最初金山工厂的一台反应釜，到如今遍布三大洲的研发生产基地；从一个两吨项目的忐忑尝试，到数百万升反应釜的从容运转——近二十五载春秋，张峰见证了公司全球产能布局的变迁，也亲历了商业化生产能力从起步到成熟的过程。

回望来路，他始终未忘那份从事药物研发生产的初心：“要缩短新药研发时间、降低研发成本，让患者更早地用上新药好药。”

如今，站在新的起点上，张峰与药明康德的故事仍在续写。

奔赴下一个25年，前方的征程更加令人心潮澎湃。药明康德仍将秉持“让天下没有难做的药，难治的病”的宏大愿景，携手全球合作伙伴为患者托起生命的希望。

From Firefighting to First-Time-Right

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 July 12, 2001, a young chemist named Feng Zhang walked through the gate of a brand-new company called WuXi AppTec.

A few weeks earlier, he had finished an interview filled with quick chemistry questions from the founders. Now, he stood in a small lab that smelled faintly of chemicals and excitement.

By chance, his first task that very afternoon was to appear in the company’s first employee video. No one could have anticipated that this quiet man in the background would one day lead WuXi AppTec’s API manufacturing, a core part of its global platform that now stretches across three continents.

Source: 123RF

The First Reactions

Back then, WuXi AppTec was a small company, but one filled with energy and eagerness. Every week, the founders gathered a few chemists to discuss how to “make the reaction run cleaner,” or “deliver faster.”

Zhang remembers the distinctive sounds of glass bottles clinking, markers squeaking on whiteboards, and endless questions flying across the room. “Every day I learned something new,” he says.

Even in those busy early days, Zhang was already thinking bigger.

“Making just a few grams felt too slow,” he recalls. “I wondered if we could produce more at once.”

He mentioned this idea half-jokingly to the management team. A few days later, they gave him a real challenge: a project involving two tons of material, and Zhang would be in charge.

By the end of 2001, he was leading his first large-scale reaction. By mid-2002, WuXi AppTec decided to build its own factory, the starting point of what would later grow into a global manufacturing network.

Zhang divided his time between supervising rented pilot plants and helping construct the new site. When the factory opened, someone needed to take charge. He stepped up.

“I never planned to work in manufacturing,” he says. “It just grew together with the company.”

In the beginning, projects came faster than experience. “I felt like a firefighter,” Zhang laughs. But those early struggles taught the discipline and habits that would later define WuXi AppTec’s precision.

By 2008 and 2009, production finally found its rhythm. The firefighting had turned into harmonized operation.

When the Impossible Was the Only Option

By 2019, WuXi AppTec’s production lines were reaching their limits. Reactors sometimes sat unused, not because there were no orders, but because the scheduling, cleaning, and maintenance did not connect smoothly.

To fix this,Zhang led a companywide effort to make production work like a “real-time orchestra.”

The changes looked simple but made a huge difference: using smarter solvents to shorten cleaning time, doing preventive maintenance like a race car team changing tires, and arranging project schedules so they fit together perfectly.

As a result,capacity use rose from 40 percent to over 70 percent, a gain equal to adding eight new factories without building anything new.

And while mistakes happened once in every hundred batches, now they are almost gone. To Zhang, the days of constant firefighting were officially behind them.

Source: 123RF

Then came an even bigger test. Zhang’s team was asked to deliver an important API for a major client.To meet the deadline, they had to build and qualify a completely new production line in less than four months.

“Most people said it was impossible,” Zhang recalls.

But he had already learned WuXi AppTec’s meaning of speed: skill built on belief. Suppliers, builders, and regulators all joined the effort. They worked through tight schedules, sourced parts from across the globe, and finished ahead of time.

When the first batch was completed, it was more than just another delivery.It was proof that the balance of speed, cost, and quality—the so-called impossible triangle—could truly be achieved.

“The reason we succeeded,” Zhang says softly, “is because we knew it was the right thing to do. And when people see your determination to do the right thing, and do it right, they will follow you.”

Not long after, another challenge arrived.

A client sent Zhang a new order for a new peptide project: twice the scale of their previous project just a year earlier, yet with the same delivery deadline. It was both a compliment and a test.

Even with WuXi AppTec’s ongoing expansion of production capacity, the task was daunting.

At a crucial moment, teams from manufacturing, R&D, technical operations, and quality assurance worked together seamlessly. Multiple production lines were qualified, and capacity was rapidly increased. At the same time, lean operations drove efficiency, with continuous improvements that shortened the production cycle.

In the end, Zhang’s team delivered with 100 percent success, doubling the previous output, with zero delays.

The client’s response was short but powerful: “You are our reliable partner.”

Source: 123RF

The Quiet Architect

Colleagues describe Zhang as calm and humble. He talks more about systems than about himself, and he always gives credit to others—the operators, engineers, and team leaders who make everything work.

“I’m not very good at talking about how well I do,” he says with a smile. “But I can tell you how good our system is.”

When asked what “WuXi Speed” really means, Zhang does not use fancy words. He talks instead about scheduling algorithms, reactor turnover, and the kind of teamwork that leaves no idle hour unclaimed.

“Speed is not about rushing,” he says. “It is about creating systems that waste nothing: not time, not materials, not opportunities.”

Under his leadership, WuXi AppTec’s 40 plants and 800 reactors now produce more than 30,000 batches each year. The company’s work spans the world, but its spirit stays the same: careful, thoughtful, and deeply human.

For Zhang, innovation is not only about discovering new molecules but also about improving how things are made.He lists technologies that have changed modern manufacturing, such as spray-dried dispersion, flow chemistry, biocatalysis, and advanced crystallization and separation.

Among them, he is most proud of enzyme-based catalysis. It replaces strong chemicals with enzymes and water, making reactions cleaner and safer while improving efficiency.

“A traditional reaction might take five steps,” Zhang explains. “With biocatalysis, we can finish it in just one.”

He adds that these innovations started long before clients asked for them. “That is how we stay ready,” he says. “When the industry changes, we already have the tools.”

That forward thinking is one reason clients trust him when deadlines are tight, or challenges appear. After one complex project, a client told him, “You are our best partner, truly world-class.”

Zhang simply nodded, thanked the client, and returned to work.

The Same Vision

From the first rented plant in Jinshan to sites across China, the United States, Europe, and soon Singapore, Zhang has watched manufacturing grow from hand-drawn flowcharts to fully digital control centers.

Yet, he says, the vision remains the same.

“For me, ‘Every drug can be made, and every disease can be treated’ means shortening the path from an idea to a real medicine,” he explains. “It means using our systems, our knowledge, our skills to help better drugs reach patients faster.”

He pauses for a moment, thoughtful as always. “We started by learning how to make reactions work,” he says. “Now we are learning how to make everything work together.”

In that simple sentence lies the meaning of WuXi Speed: not a rush, but a rhythm; not pride, but purpose.

And at its center stands Feng Zhang, the quiet architect who turned the noise of chemistry into the harmony of progress.

免责声明：本文 仅作信息交流之目的，文中观点不代表药明康德立场，亦不代表药明康德支持或反对文中观点。本文也不是治疗方案推荐。如需获得治疗 方案指导，请前往正规医院就诊。

版权说明：欢迎个人转发至朋友圈，谢绝媒体或机构未经授权以任何形式转载至其他平台。转载授权请在「药明康德」微信公众号回复“转载”，获取转载须知。