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WuXi AppTec (WuXi pronounced ''Wu-shee'') is a global
pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...
,
biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...
, and
medical device A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...
company. The company covers the development cycle through five core operations, including
small molecule Within the fields of molecular biology and pharmacology, a small molecule or micromolecule is a low molecular weight (≤ 1000 daltons) organic compound that may regulate a biological process, with a size on the order of 1 nm. Many drugs ar ...
R&D and manufacturing,
biologics A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, th ...
R&D and manufacturing, cell therapy and gene therapy R&D and manufacturing, medical device testing, and molecular testing and genomics.


History

WuXi's founder is Dr.
Ge Li Ge Li (Chinese: 李革) is a Chinese American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of WuXi AppTec, a contract pharmaceutical research firm. He is one of the richest men in China and the United States. Career Ge Li ...
, an organic chemist, who founded WuXi PharmaTech in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
in December 2000. WuXi established services in
synthetic chemistry As a topic of chemistry, chemical synthesis (or combination) is the artificial execution of chemical reactions to obtain one or several products. This occurs by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions. In mod ...
in 2001, manufacturing process development in 2003, research manufacturing in 2004, bioanalytical services in 2005, service biology in 2006, and toxicology and formulation in 2007. On December 14, 2006, WuXi PharmaTech announced that it was ranked 173rd on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2006. The company opened chemistry facilities in Tianjin in 2007. In 2008, WuXi PharmaTech acquired AppTec Laboratory Services Inc., a US-based company founded in 2001 with expertise in medical-device and biologics testing and with facilities in St. Paul, MN; Philadelphia, PA; and Atlanta, GA. WuXi opened a toxicology facility in
Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
in 2009. WuXi opened a large-scale manufacturing facility in Jinshan in 2010. The company began a biologics discovery, development, and manufacturing operation in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
and Wuxi City in 2011. At the same year, WuXi acquired MedKey, a China-based clinical research company, and Abgent, a San Diego company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of antibodies for biological research and drug discovery. In 2012, WuXi opened a chemistry facility in
Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
and a GMP biologics drug-substance facility in Wuxi City. That year WuXi also entered into a joint venture with
MedImmune MedImmune, LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca before February 14, 2019, when it was announced that the MedImmune name and branding would be discontinued in favor of AstraZeneca. MedImmune was founded in 1988 as Molecular Vaccines, ...
, the biologics arm of
AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includin ...
, to co-develop MEDI5117, an anti-IL6 antibody for
rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...
for the Chinese market. In 2013, WuXi formed a joint venture with the global clinical
contract research organization In the life sciences, a contract research organization (CRO) is a company that provides support to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries in the form of research services outsourced on a contract basis. A CRO may provid ...
PRA International (now called
PRA Health Sciences PRA Health Sciences was a contract research organization (CRO) with headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was established in 1976 and acquired by ICON in 2021. Background PRA was founded as the Anti-Inflammatory Drug Study Group in 1976, r ...
) to build a clinical research business in China. In 2014, WuXi opened a new biologics biosafety testing facility in
Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
. In the same year, WuXi acquired
XenoBiotic A xenobiotic is a chemical substance found within an organism that is not naturally produced or expected to be present within the organism. It can also cover substances that are present in much higher concentrations than are usual. Natural compo ...
Laboratories, Inc. (XBL), a contract research organization with 27 years of operation that provides bioanalytical, drug metabolism, and pharmacokinetic services to the pharmaceutical, animal health, and agrochemical industries. In 2015, WuXi completed its merger with WuXi Merger Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of New WuXi Life Science Limited. As a result of the merger, New WuXi Life Science Limited acquired the company in a cash transaction valued at approximately US$3.3 billion. In 2016, WuXi's STA subsidiary opened a new campus in
Changzhou Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provin ...
and operations in San Diego. In the same year, WuXi acquired Crelux GmbH, a structure-based drug discovery provider based in
Munich, Germany Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. In 2017, WuXi acquired HD Biosciences (HDB), a biology focused preclinical drug discovery contract research organization (CRO).


Company segments and subsidiaries

WuXi AppTec provides services to its customers primarily in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and other life science industries, as well as research institutes, disease-focused and non-profit foundations. There are 5 areas of focus for services: #Small Molecule Therapeutics R&D, Manufacturing and Testing #Biologicals Therapeutics R&D and Manufacturing #Gene- and Cell-based Therapies Manufacturing #Medical Device Testing #Genomics and Molecular Diagnostics.


WuXi NextCODE

In 2015, the company launched the subsidiary WuXi NextCODE following the acquisition of NextCODE Health, a
bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...
startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
which emerged from the Icelandic firm deCODE genetics in 2013. The subsidiary had offices in Boston and Woburn, Massachusetts (US); Reykjavik (Iceland) and Shanghai (China).


References


External links

{{Authority control Manufacturing companies based in Shanghai Pharmaceutical companies of China Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical companies established in 2000 Contract research organizations Multinational companies headquartered in China Life sciences industry Chinese brands Chinese companies established in 2000