WuXi AppTec, a leading global provider of R&D and manufacturing support services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, announced the completion of the acquisition of Oxgene, a pioneering United Kingdom-based contract research and development organization that designs and develops scalable gene therapy technologies. With this acquisition, WuXi AppTec can offer its customers comprehensive support in the creation and development of state-of-the-art cell and gene therapies for needy patients worldwide.
Oxgene will become a wholly owned subsidiary of WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU), the cell and gene therapy division of WuXi AppTec, the Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CTDMO). WuXi ATU's integrated platforms transform the development, testing, manufacture and commercialization of cell and gene therapy products and accelerate their time to market. Oxgene, which will keep its name, is the first WuXi ATU facility in Europe and will continue to develop these industry-leading capabilities.
Since it was founded in 2011, Oxgene has been providing the cell and gene therapy industry with discovery and biomanufacturing solutions through novel technologies and contract research solutions. It also offers manufacturing systems that offer exceptional scalability. The new TESSA technology from Oxgene for the production of adeno-associated viruses (AAV) and the XLenti-Stable solutions for the production of lentiviruses simplify the production of cell and gene therapies while significantly reducing costs.
"Oxgene is proud to have developed a series of next-generation platforms that address the complexity of the production of viral vectors for gene and cell therapies," said Dr. Ryan Cawood , founder and chief executive officer of Oxgene. "We us to join the team at WuXi ATU and work together on scaling our technologies as a combined company. This will strengthen and expand our service offering to customers and improve the scope and cost of bringing cell and gene therapies to market by orders of magnitude. The benefits will be significant for industry and patients worldwide. "
"We are excited to welcome Oxgene to WuXi ATU," said Dr. David Chang , chief executive officer of WuXi ATU. "By combining the world-class cell and gene therapy CTDMO platform from WuXi ATU with the innovative capabilities of Oxgene we will be able to provide transformative solutions to our customers. This business combination is a significant step in our quest to enable our customers and partners around the world to deliver more effective and accessible novel therapies to patients around the world. "
