Perspectives

Dr. Chris Chen Predicts the Next Big Modality in Biologics

May. 01, 2025

Dr. Chris Chen Predicts the Next Big Modality in Biologics

In April Pharma’s Almanac roundtables, Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, shared his insights on the next big modalities in biologics and the factors driving innovation in this dynamic field. Learn more, click here.

While mAbs have reached a mature stage of development and commercialization after decades of progress, the persistent challenge of improving safety and efficacy continues to propel innovation across the biopharmaceutical industry.

About ten years ago, we anticipated the growth potential of bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) and ADCs. Today, the proliferation of global partnerships (including co-development agreements, licensing deals, and M&A activities) and active R&D pipelines has validated these insights. We remain confident that BsAbs and ADCs will continue to drive biologics innovation over the next 5–10 years, addressing critical unmet medical needs.

Currently, WuXi Biologics is supporting 817 integrated projects, representing one of the industry’s largest portfolios of complex biologics. This includes 328 mAbs, 151 BsAbs /multispecific antibodies, 194 ADCs, 80 fusion proteins, and 24 vaccines. Notably, BsAbs and ADCs now constitute over 40% of the total portfolio — a remarkable increase from 14% in 2018, demonstrating accelerated growth of new modalities.

The advancement of these modalities is enabled by our state-of-the-art technology platforms, including WuXiBody™ (universal bispecific/multispecific antibody discovery platform) and WuXiDARx™ (drug-to-antibody ratio technology platform). It is further expedited by our end-to-end solutions. We anticipate that an increasing number of new therapies will soon gain approval from regulatory authorities, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide.

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