WuXi Biologics and Tsinghua University Innovation Center for Immune Therapy Sign MOU and Announce Strategic Partnership

WuXi Biologics' first strategic partnership with a university

BEIJING and SHANGHAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WuXi Biologics (2269.HK), a leading global open-access biologics technology platform company offering end-to-end solutions for biologics discovery, development and manufacturing, and Tsinghua University Innovation Center for Immune Therapy (ICIT), today announced that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed to form a strategic partnership in discovery, development and manufacturing of biologics.

ICIT focuses on discovery and development of therapies for immune and cancer diseases. Through this partnership ICIT will have access to WuXi Biologics' comprehensive, integrated services include innovative biologics discovery, cell line development, cell culture process development, purification process development and formulation development and manufacturing for ICIT's monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, recombinant proteins, and protein conjugates (i.e., ADCs).

"Tsinghua University has gathered a number of excellent Immunology scholars after six-year accumulation, and original achievements are constantly emerging. The establishment of ICIT and the strategic partnership between ICIT and WuXi Biologics will not only accelerate transformation of achievements in scientific research, but also benefit the society and the national economy," said Prof. Chen Dong, Dean of School of Medicine, and Director of the Institute for Immunology, Tsinghua University.

"I am greatly excited and honored to promote the collaboration between my alma mater and our company to enable the translation of scientific research achievements in ICIT," said Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics. "ICIT has a strong talent pool and we are looking forward to our first-ever strategic partnership with a research institute. WuXi Biologics is a platform company enabling not only our global partners, but also scientists, universities and institutes in the global biologics industry. We aim to empower anyone and any company to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing, and we are committed to expediting biologics development with reduced R&D costs to benefit patients worldwide."

About Tsinghua University Innovation Center for Immune Therapy (ICIT)

Tsinghua University Innovation Center for Immune Therapy (ICIT), a joint entity of the Institutes for Immunology and Institute of Technology Transfer at Tsinghua University, was established in August, 2016. ICIT aims to accelerate transformation of basic scientific discoveries into innovative medicines. ICIT thus serves as an "incubator" for translational research "from target to hit" by providing seed money as well as technical expertise. The successful applications are expected to have sound scientific basis and carefully crafted plan to develop first-in-class lead molecules for immune-related diseases.