HQ Team
January 7, 2024: China’s WuXi Biologics, a clinical research organization, has granted global rights to US-based Candid Therapeutics to use the company’s synthetic antibody to fight cancer for an upfront payment of $925 million.
Candid, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, will have exclusive global rights to a preclinical trispecific T-cell engager discovered at WuXi Biologics’ proprietary universal multispecific antibody platform WuXiBody, according to a statement.
A T-cell engager is a synthetic antibody that binds to a tumour cell’s antigen and a T cell’s trigger molecule, to redirect the immune system’s T cells to kill cancer cells.
The engagers are a type of targeted therapy that can be used to treat various types of cancer, including acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and small-cell lung cancer. They are also used to combat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
‘Payments exceeding $2.3 billion’
They are administered in a series of doses, with a step-up period to reduce the risk of toxicity. The full dose is given about one to two weeks after the step-up period.
“With this collaboration, we have enabled seven global programs for molecule discovery through our research platform in 2024, and are eligible to receive around $140 million in near-term payments and the total potential payments exceeding $2.3 billion,” said Dr Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics.
WuXi Biologics is a leading global Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization offering end-to-end solutions that enable partners to discover, develop and manufacture biologics – from concept to commercialization.
It employs more than 12,000 skilled employees in China, the US, Ireland, Germany and Singapore. As of June 30, 2024, WuXi Biologics was supporting 742 integrated client projects, including 16 in commercial manufacturing.
Selling Ireland facility
On January 6, WuXi Biologic’s subsidiary WuXi Vaccines Ireland announced it would sell the Ireland vaccine manufacturing facility to Merck & Co., Inc., for about $500 million.
The plan comes ahead of potential US legislation that would curb the business of Chinese biotech companies. The US House of Representatives passed the Biosecure Act last year, which would ban federal contracts with targeted firms and their business partners.
The bill would prohibit US companies that receive federal funds from working with certain Chinese companies. The goal is to dissociate the US pharmaceutical industry from these companies by 2032. The bill needs to be approved by the Senate.
Some US companies are already looking for alternatives, such as Indian drug services firms or European or North American contract development and manufacturing organizations.
Candid Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego. It is advancing two lead B-cell depleting T-cell engager antibody drug candidates.
