CDMO Vision
Building the future in the heartland
Wheeler’s vision pushes the boundaries of the CDMO model. By adding state-of-the-art, clinical drug substance manufacturing in low-cost Oklahoma City, customers will benefit from reduced timelines, reduced regulatory risks, and reduced costs.
Led by our highly experienced operations and technical teams, Wheeler is building new CDMO capacity, expertise, and infrastructure in Oklahoma. And, while Portable CMC™ enables innovators to go to any CDMO, Wheeler also offers a seamless pipeline to our cutting-edge CDMO facility.
In 2023, Wheeler’s innovative facility The Zig, will offer:
- GMP Master Cell Banking
- GMP Drug Substance Manufacture (2 x 500 L DynaDrive S.U.B.)
- Quality Control Laboratories
- Document Control Facilities
- GMP Warehousing
Facility of the Future
Embracing the principles of Pharma 4.0, Wheeler is looking beyond conventions of clinical manufacturing to help customers have access to the future now. Through key collaborations with DataHow, Synthace, Lucid and CRB, Wheeler has designed its development and manufacturing facilities to be a seamless integration of equipment, scalability, automation, data transparency, and process transferability.
Coupled with sound risk management and lean principles, Wheeler’s forward-looking facility designs are on the forefront of an evolving biomanufacturing industry:
- Wheeler’s “Facility of the Future” (available in 2023) is being built in Oklahoma
City and is designed to be highly flexible and accommodating of
a variety of biologics - 35,000 square foot drug substance manufacturing facility featuring ballroom
production suites (closed processes), cell banking, on-site media and buffer
prep, on-site QC labs, development labs, digital systems integrations with a
PIP-friendly floor plan - A positive customer experience is ensured by an accountable, integrated,
organization devoid of department silos and islands of innovation and automation.
Ready and Scalable Workforce
A low-cost center city in the heart of the country with a pre-existing biomanufacturing industry serving the global market, the Oklahoma City region is well-positioned to become a thriving hub for biomanufacturing and the pharmaceutical industry. Combining state-of-the-art, scalable CDMO capacity in a low-cost, business-friendly innovation economy, with coastal discovery CRO partners, allows Wheeler to start to lower outsourcing costs for the benefit of patients around the world.

An Innovation Ecosystem
As an anchor tenant in the OKC Innovation District, Wheeler is excited to be a part of Oklahoma City’s robust academic, clinical, and biotech ecosystem including:
- 700,000 sq. ft. University of Oklahoma (OU) Research Park
- Oklahoma Blood Institute
- The OU Medical Center (OU Health System)
- The Oklahoma Children’s Hospital (OU Health System)
- The Oklahoma City VA Medical Center
- The Stephenson Cancer Center (OU Health System), ranked 1 of 32 US cancer centers achieving LAPS status in the National Clinical Trials Network
- Dean McGee Eye Institute
- Harold Hamm Diabetes Center (OU Health System)
- Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF)
- Oklahoma City Innovation District
- Hamm Institute for American Energy