WuXi AppTec has completed its acquisition of UK CDMO Oxgene. The acquisition enables WuXi to offer its customers end-to-end support in the development of cell and gene therapies.
Oxgene will become a subsidiary of WuXi Advanced Therapies, WuXi AppTec’s cell and gene therapy contract testing, development and manufacturing organisation business unit. Oxgene, which will retain its name, will be WuXi ATU’s first facility in Europe.
Oxgene’s TESSA technology for adeno-associated viral (AAV) manufacturing and XLenti stable solutions for lentiviral manufacturing are designed to simplify cell and gene therapy manufacturing while 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 CEO 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, CEO 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.”