Per the terms of the joint venture agreement, WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA will make capital contributions of USD120 million and USD80 million respectively to WuXi XDC. WuXi XDC will be owned by WuXi Biologics for 60% and WuXi STA for 40%. Accordingly, WuXi XDC will become a non-wholly owned subsidiary of WuXi Biologics, providing services for development and manufacturing of antibodies or other biologics, chemical payloads and linkers, and the bioconjugated Drug Substance (DS) and Drug Product (DP).

"Bioconjugates have recently emerged as an exciting therapeutic modality to address unmet medical needs. 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." Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics and Chairman of WuXi XDC, commented, "We are also delighted to announce Jimmy's new appointment and are confident that he will lead the company to establish a global outstanding bioconjugate CDMO to enable these novel therapeutics into the clinic and eventually on to commercialization."

Dr. Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA, commented, "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. 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."

Dr. Jimmy Li, newly appointed CEO of WuXi XDC, commented, "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."

Dr. Jimmy Li has been with WuXi Biologics since 2011. In the nearly 10 years with WuXi Biologics, Dr. Li led various functions, including the establishment of Cell Culture Process Development and Pilot Plant Production group, followed by management of the MFG1 facility, where the first commercial biologics manufactured by WuXi Biologics was approved by the U.S. FDA and EMA. Dr. Jimmy Li has 20 years' experience in biologics process development, scale-up and cGMP manufacturing at Diversa Corporation (now BASF), Tanox and Genentech. Dr. Li holds B.S. degree from Tsinghua University, and Ph.D. degree from University of Maryland Baltimore County, majoring in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.