WuXi AppTec Completes Acquisition of OXGENE to Further Strengthen Cell and Gene Therapy Service Offerings for Global Customers

PHILADELPHIA and OXFORD, March 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- WuXi AppTec, a leading global provider of R&D- and manufacturing-enabling services in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of OXGENE, a pioneering United Kingdom-based contract research and development organization that designs and develops scalable gene therapy technologies. This acquisition enables WuXi AppTec to offer its customers end-to-end support in the creation and development of cutting-edge cell and gene therapies for patients in need worldwide.

OXGENE will become a fully-owned subsidiary of WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU), WuXi AppTec's cell and gene therapy Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CTDMO) business unit. WuXi ATU's integrated platforms transform the development, testing, manufacturing, and commercialization of cell and gene therapy products and accelerate their time to market. OXGENE, which will retain its name, will be WuXi ATU's first facility in Europe and will further enhance these industry-leading capabilities.

Since its founding in 2011, OXGENE has offered discovery and biomanufacturing solutions to the cell and gene therapy industries through novel technologies and contract research solutions. It also provides manufacturing systems that deliver exceptional scalability. OXGENE's novel TESSA technology for adeno-associated viral (AAV) manufacturing and XLenti stable solutions for lentiviral manufacturing simplify cell and gene therapy manufacturing while significantly reducing costs.

"OXGENE is proud to have invented a range of next-generation platforms that address the complexities of viral vector manufacturing for gene and cell therapies," said Dr. Ryan Cawood, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OXGENE. "We are excited to join the team at WuXi ATU and to work together to scale up our technologies as a combined business, which will strengthen and broaden our service offerings for customers, improving by orders of magnitude the scale and cost of bringing cell and gene therapies to market. The benefits will be significant for the industry and for patients worldwide."

"We are delighted to welcome OXGENE to WuXi ATU," said Dr. David Chang, Chief Executive Officer of WuXi ATU. "By combining WuXi ATU's world-class cell and gene therapy CTDMO platform with OXGENE's innovative capabilities, we will be able to provide transformative solutions for our customers. This business combination represents a significant step in our ongoing effort to enable our customers and partners worldwide to deliver more effective and accessible advanced therapies to patients globally."

About OXGENE

OXGENE provides end-to-end contract services to cell and gene therapy companies seeking to discover, develop, manufacture and test innovative drug candidates at scale for global commercialization. OXGENE provides rapid, cost-effective services through proprietary technology and automation platforms for molecular discovery and by integrating the full suite of technologies needed for cell and gene therapy manufacturing. OXGENE is known for its expertise in designing DNA sequences, optimizing expression of proteins, developing cell lines, and improving viral delivery systems. For more information, please visit www.oxgene.com

About WuXi Advanced Therapies

As the advanced therapies business unit of WuXi AppTec, WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU) is a Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CTDMO) that offers integrated platforms to transform the development, testing, manufacturing, and commercialization of cell, gene, and other advanced biopharmaceuticals. Our services and solutions accelerate time to market and support customer programs around the world. For more information, please visit www.advancedtherapies.com

About WuXi AppTec

WuXi AppTec provides a broad portfolio of R&D and manufacturing services that enable companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries worldwide to advance discoveries and deliver groundbreaking treatments to patients. As an innovation-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi AppTec helps its partners improve the productivity of advancing healthcare products through cost-effective and efficient, socially responsible and sustainable solutions. With industry-leading capabilities such as R&D and manufacturing for small molecule drugs, cell and gene therapies, and testing for medical devices, WuXi AppTec's open-access platform is enabling more than 4,100 collaborators from over 30 countries to improve the health of those in need – and to realize the vision that "every drug can be made and every disease can be treated." Please visit: www.wuxiapptec.com