WuXi PharmaTech was founded in December 2000 in Shanghai by organic chemist Ge Li.[1][2]
The company opened chemistry facilities in Tianjin in 2007. In 2008, WuXi PharmaTech acquired AppTec Laboratory Services Inc., a US-based company founded in 2001 with expertise in medical-device and biologics testing and with facilities in St. Paul, MN; Philadelphia, PA; and Atlanta, GA. In the same year the company was renamed WuXi AppTec.[3][4] WuXi AppTec opened a toxicology facility in Suzhou in 2009.[5]
WuXi AppTec's subsidiary, WuXi STA, opened a large-scale manufacturing facility in Jinshan in 2010. The company began a biologics discovery, development, and manufacturing operation in Shanghai and Wuxi City in 2011. At the same year, WuXi AppTec acquired MedKey, a China-based clinical research company,[6] and Abgent, a San Diego company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of antibodies for biological research and drug discovery.[7] In 2012, WuXi AppTec opened a chemistry facility in Wuhan and a GMP biologics drug-substance facility in Wuxi City. That year WuXi AppTec also entered into a joint venture with MedImmune, the biologics arm of AstraZeneca, to co-develop MEDI5117, an anti-IL6 antibody for rheumatoid arthritis for the Chinese market.[8] In 2013, WuXi AppTec formed a joint venture with the global clinical contract research organization PRA International (now called PRA Health Sciences) to build a clinical research business in China.[9]
In 2014, WuXi AppTec opened a new biologics biosafety testing facility in Suzhou. In the same year, WuXi AppTec acquired XenoBiotic Laboratories, Inc. (XBL), a contract research organization with 27 years of operation that provides bioanalytical, drug metabolism, and pharmacokinetic services to the pharmaceutical, animal health, and agrochemical industries.[10]
In 2015, the company launched the subsidiary WuXi NextCODE following the acquisition of NextCODE Health, a bioinformaticsstartup company which emerged from the Icelandic firm deCODE genetics in 2013.[11]
In 2015, WuXi AppTec completed its merger with WuXi Merger Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of New WuXi Life Science Limited. As a result of the merger, New WuXi Life Science Limited acquired the company in a cash transaction valued at approximately US$3.3 billion.[12] In 2016, WuXi STA opened a new campus in Changzhou[13] and operations in San Diego. In the same year, WuXi AppTec acquired Crelux GmbH, a structure-based drug discovery provider based in Munich, Germany.[14] In 2017, WuXi AppTec acquired HD Biosciences (HDB), a biology focused preclinical drug discovery contract research organization (CRO).[15]
