Press Releases

Shanghai, February 1, 2021— WuXi Biologics (“WuXi Bio”) (2269.HK), a global company with leading open-access biologics technology platforms, STA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., (“WuXi STA”), a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization, and Antengene Corporation Limited (“Antengene”, SEHK: 6996.HK), today announced a strategic collaboration to accelerate the development and manufacturing of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drug candidates in Antengen’s pipeline. This is the second partnership between Antengene and WuXi Biologics for the GMP manufacturing services following the announcement of a bispecific antibody CDMO service collaboration in October 2020.

Through this collaboration, WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA will provide services for the process development, scale-up, and GMP manufacturing of ADC drug intermediates. Antengene will focus on the discovery and development of monoclonal antibody, the core element of the ADC drug development. WuXi STA will focus on the GMP manufacturing of linkers and payloads while WuXi Biologics will provide process development for monoclonal antibody and the biological conjugation as well as the subsequent GMP manufacture. All three parties will work closely to leverage the resources and technological capabilities, with the goal to accelerating the development of ADCs for the benefit of patients.

Dr. Jay Mei, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Antengene, commented, “We are pleased to form a long-term strategic partnership with WuXi STA and WuXi Biologics. It has long been Antengene’s strategic imperative to establish our own in-house discovery capabilities, and we started our early discovery programs through the Antengene New Drug Discovery Center. Through strategic alliances and further integrating our clinical development, regulatory, and early discovery teams, we are rapidly advancing our in-house discovery programs. We believe that this collaboration will allow us to build an even stronger capabilities in ADC field by combining deep expertise from the three companies. I am confident that together we can bring our ADC pipeline forward much faster that will ultimately bring benefit to patients in need.”

Dr. Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA, commented: “We are delighted to strengthen our strategic cooperation with Antengene. I am confident that WuXi STA’s leading capability and capacity for high potency API and conjugation chemistry for novel molecular modalities such as ADCs, along with our high quality standards in meeting global regulatory requirements, will provide the strongest support for ADC linker and payload development and manufacturing. We will continue to leverage our ‘end-to-end’ novel molecular modality platform to empower more partners to accelerate their development pathway to market for the benefit of global patients.”

Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, said: “We are glad to expand our strategic collaboration with Antengene to advance its ADC program into clinical stage, leveraging our integrated biologics platforms, unparalleled capacity and world-class quality system. WuXi Biologics will continue to increase capabilities and capacities to enable global partners as they develop next-generation biologics such as ADCs for the benefit of patients worldwide.”

About Antengene
Antengene Corporation Limited (“Antengene”, SEHK: 6996.HK) is a leading clinical-stage Asia-Pacific biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative oncology medicines. Antengene aims to provide the most advanced anti-cancer drugs to patients in China, the Asia Pacific Region and around the world. Since its establishment, Antengene has built a pipeline of 12 clinical and pre-clinical stage assets and obtained 12 investigational new drug approvals in Asia Pacific. The vision of Antengene is to “Treat Patients Beyond Borders”. Antengene aims to address significant unmet medical needs by discovering, developing and commercializing first-in-class/best-in-class therapeutics. For more information, please visit: www.antengene.com.

About WuXi STA
STA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec (WuXi STA), is a leading pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capability and technology platform company serving the life sciences industry, with operations in China and the United States. As a premier Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), WuXi STA offers our worldwide partners efficient, flexible and high-quality solutions for integrated CMC (Chemical, Manufacturing, and Control) requirements from preclinical to commercial uses. For more information, please visit: http://www.STApharma.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

About WuXi Biologics
WuXi Biologics (stock code: 2269.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company, is a leading global open-access biologics technology platform offering end-to-end solutions to empower organizations to discover, develop, and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing. The company’s history and achievements demonstrate its commitment to providing a truly one-stop service offering and strong value proposition to its global clients. As of June 30, 2020, there were a total of 286 integrated projects, including 141 projects in pre-clinical development stage, 125 projects in early-phase (phase I and II) clinical development, 19 projects in late-phase (phase III) development and one project in commercial manufacturing. With total estimated capacity for biopharmaceutical production planned in China, Ireland, the U.S., Germany, and Singapore exceeding 300,000 liters after 2023, WuXi Biologics will provide its biomanufacturing partners with a robust and premier-quality global supply chain network. For more information about WuXi Biologics, please visit: www.wuxibiologics.com.

Media Contacts
Antengene
PR@antengene.com

WuXi STA 
STAinfo@wuxiapptec.com

WuXi Biologics
PR@wuxibiologics.com