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WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA Establish Joint Venture to Advance Bioconjugates
Shanghai-based companies, WuXi STA, a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec, and WuXi Biologics are establishing a joint venture to provide end-to-end contract development and manufacturing of bioconjugates, including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
On May 14th, both companies announced the founding of WuXi XDC, a CDMO that will develop antibodies or other biologics, chemical payloads and linkers, and the bioconjugated Drug Substance (DS) and Drug Product (DP).
“I am very honored for the opportunity to lead WuXi XDC. By leveraging both the robust capacities and state-of-the-art technologies of WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA, WuXi XDC will further increase its unique presence in the bioconjugates industry to enable global partners as they build their innovative ideas into transformative new treatments for patients worldwide,” said Dr. Jimmy Li, newly appointed CEO of WuXi XDC.
Dr. Li has extensive experience in biologics process development, scale-up, and cGMP manufacturing at Diversa Corporation (now BASF), Tanox, and Genentech. Since joining WuXi Biologics in 2011, he has been part of various key positions within the company.
Agreement Terms
According to the agreement, both parties will invest in the joint venture. WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA will contribute US$120 million and US$80 million, respectively. WuXi Biologics will be the major stakeholder owning a 60% stake in the new company, while WuXi STA will own the remaining 40%. Based on this arrangement, WuXi XDC will become a non-wholly owned subsidiary of WuXi Biologics.
“Many ADC drug development companies face complex global supply chain and project management challenges with multiple contract partners to handle antibody, payload, linker, and conjugations. In the past years, WuXi STA worked closely with WuXi Biologics on ADC therapeutics as well as other novel bioconjugates to provide our customers an expedited development pathway,” said Dr. Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA.
“Now, with the initiative of WuXi XDC, we will further combine industry leading resources from both WuXi STA and WuXi Biologics, empowering more partners with a further optimized bioconjugates development and manufacture platform to launch their novel therapeutics faster to market for the benefit of global patients,” he added.
WuXi Biologics’ Penchant for Deal-making
WuXi Biologics has made quite a few acquisitions recently to expand capabilities and meet client’s needs. In December 2020, the company bought a manufacturing facility in Wuppertal, Germany, from Bayer for $183.3 million (€150 million). This year, it acquired Pfizer China manufacturing facilities in Hangzhou, China, as well as the CMAB Biopharma Group, a biologics CDMO now renamed as WuXi Biologics (Suzhou).
Bioconjugates are hybrid materials comprising a synthetic macromolecule linked to a biomolecule such as a peptide or protein. They have recently emerged as an exciting therapeutic modality impacting the fields of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and medicine. Keeping that in mind, WuXi Biologics has now made another high-profile investment with WuXi XDC.
“We’re excited about establishing WuXi XDC, a dedicated end-to-end bioconjugate CDMO which will combine the world-class capacities and capabilities of both WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA to provide a superior one-stop service for global partners in an effort to expedite development and lower costs,” said Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics and Chairman of WuXi XDC.
Related Article: WuXi Biologics Completes Three Acquisition Deals to Meet Global Biologics Demands
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