100% Retention Rate: How WuXi AppTec’s Integrated Platform Helped Clients Secure Global Partnerships

In the long journey of novel drug development, time is a critical variable that can determine success or failure. For a company developing an innovative therapy, reaching key milestones at the right time can not only affect the fate of the molecule but also determine how soon patients can gain access to hope and life-saving treatment.

A biotechnology company developing a complex lipid–siRNA conjugate for extrahepatic delivery, a program that involved two-step conjugation reactions, intricate processes, and multiple unit operations, chose to partner with WuXi TIDES, the integrated CRDMO platform of WuXi AppTec supporting drug discovery, development, and manufacturing of oligonucleotides, peptides, and related synthetic conjugates. After joining the project, the team systematically re-engineered and optimized the process, addressed multiple technical challenges ahead of expectations and delivered the GLP batch on time.

Shortly after the delivery of this key batch, the molecule’s potential was recognized by the industry, resulting in an out-licensing agreement in which a global pharmaceutical company acquired its global rights. The new rights holder subsequently chose to advance the molecule on the WuXi TIDES platform, expanding the collaboration from active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to drug product.

Through close collaboration within WuXi TIDES, the API team continuously optimized the process to ensure stable supply while the formulation team advanced formulation development and process research in parallel. The analytical team provided seamless support across the workflow, from process development through manufacturing. By using unified analytical methods and a consistent quality system, the team accelerated development and reduced handover and supply risks. From PCC confirmation to IND filing, the team supported the customer in completing the application within 9 months, a pace that is relatively uncommon for a complex oligonucleotide conjugate of this kind.

This case illustrates how WuXi AppTec’s integrated CRDMO platform supports customers in achieving key development milestones.

Figures disclosed at the company’s 2025 Investor Day help illustrate the role of integrated platforms. Among the 213 chemically synthesized molecules involved in licensing deals or transactions globally from 2024 to the first half of 2025, WuXi AppTec supported 62, or 29%. Of these, 53 molecules were already on the platform prior to the change in ownership. After the transaction, the retention rate of these molecules on the platform reached 100%.

Based on their deep trust in WuXi AppTec’s expertise and commitment, clients often choose to keep projects on WuXi AppTec’s CRDMO platform following ownership changes. This decision not only avoids the delays and operational risks associated with technical and material handovers but also leverages WuXi AppTec’s end-to-end capabilities to drive more efficient, higher-quality progression from early to late stages. This continuity, supported by a unified global quality system, outperforms fragmented outsourcing and helps accelerate approvals across additional markets.

When Complex Molecules Meet “Molecular Migration”

Over the past decade, the global biopharmaceutical industry has undergone meaningful structural change.

On the one hand, small- and mid-sized biotech companies have become a core force in exploring frontier innovation. These companies are agile, focused, and willing to pursue novel targets. However, they commonly face a shared constraint: a lack of complete infrastructure from early discovery to commercial manufacturing. At the same time, the global biopharmaceutical industry has entered an era of “molecular migration,” where licensing has evolved into a major financing channel and M&A remains a recurring industry theme.

On the other hand, the molecules being developed themselves are undergoing significant change. Innovative small-molecule drugs are becoming increasingly complex, and new molecular modalities such as peptides, oligonucleotides, and various conjugates are continuously emerging. These complex molecules often involve novel chemical reactions, numerous unit operations, highly customized process paths, and more demanding quality control—presenting unprecedented challenges to the entire development journey and placing greater demands on capabilities and scale.

Against this backdrop, a growing number of complex-molecule programs are being entrusted to enabling platforms that possess comprehensive, deep technical capabilities, along with scale advantages, and that can truly deliver projects both efficiently and with high quality.

As a global enabler of innovation, WuXi AppTec is a practitioner of this trend. Starting from a single laboratory in 2000, the company has consistently followed the science, followed its customers, and followed the molecules, gradually building an integrated CRDMO model that encompasses research, development, and manufacturing.

Leveraging over two decades of accumulated experience in the chemistry business, WuXi AppTec has laid a solid foundation to address the development and manufacturing challenges of complex molecules. With years of process know-how, deep technical expertise, and continuously expanding capacity, the platform delivers efficiency, value, and quality while confidently addressing the development needs of a wide range of complex molecules.

The Integrated Platform: Speed, Quality, and Synergy

In the field of pharmaceutical innovation, customer trust is often built on deliverables that can be consistently validated—speed and quality.

Speed is never a new topic in the industry. However, true speed does not come from excessive compression of any single step; it comes from the parallel initiation and seamless handover of all steps, minimizing cross‑stage and cross‑team frictions and risks. This is how WuXi AppTec’s integrated CRDMO platform responds to what customers care about most: how to truly accelerate, and how to ensure high-quality delivery.

A peptide molecule in the clinical stage was entrusted to the WuXi TIDES team. The customer’s request was direct: speed.

Through close collaboration across the integrated WuXi TIDES team—covering process development, analytics, and manufacturing—the delivery of a laboratory-scale GLP batch, which typically takes about 2 weeks, was shortened to 3 days for sample delivery and 5 days for a complete report, saving valuable time for the customer’s toxicology studies. The formulation team did not wait until the typical API handoff; instead, they became involved early in process development and, leveraging platform capabilities and experience, completed formulation screening and preliminary process design. Throughout the project, analytical support was embedded at every stage, ensuring that each batch met high standards.

It is this model that makes speed not a matter of emergency response, but a systemic capability of an integrated platform—where every step is not waiting to start, but accelerating through collaboration. The true value of speed, in turn, is reflected in product quality and the steady advancement of milestones. Another core strength of an integrated platform lies in embedding quality assurance into every step—from process development to analytical methods, from API to drug product—ensuring that each step can withstand scrutiny.

Owing to its quality profile and clinical potential, this peptide molecule attracted interest from an international pharmaceutical company, and a licensing agreement was reached. Updates on its clinical development continue to emerge.

There are many similar client cases on the WuXi AppTec platform. The complexity of drug development requires system‑level capabilities: effective cross‑stage collaboration, deep understanding of processes and risks, and disciplined execution. Quality depends on scientific rigor and attention to detail. When these elements align, the company can reliably meet client needs.

Over the years, WuXi AppTec has consistently strengthened its capabilities and capacity to meet customers’ evolving needs and to address the industry’s most pressing challenges. The daily work of process optimization, the automated transitions between manufacturing lines, the coordinated progression of programs across the platform—together, these activities form the solid foundation of an enabling platform.