CANbridge Pharmaceutical and WuXi Biologics Enter into Strategic Partnership for Rare Disease Therapeutics

CANbridge Pharmaceutical Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative drug candidates to treat underserved medical conditions in China and other markets, and WuXi Biologics (2269. HK), a leading global open-access biologics technology platform company offering end-to-end solutions for biologics discovery, development and manufacturing, jointly announced today a strategic partnership to enable CANbridge to develop and commercialize a portfolio of biotherapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases. This partnership leverages WuXi Biologics’ drug discovery, development and manufacturing capabilities and CANbridge’s clinical, regulatory and commercial leadership.

This agreement builds on years of new product discovery capabilities established at WuXi Biologics, and the CANbridge team’s years of experience with orphan drug approval processes. As a result, CANbridge expects to file the first Investigational New Drug (IND) application in a rare disease in China with the lead candidate from this program in 2019. CANbridge may also develop these therapeutics on a global basis going forward under an exclusive licensing agreement. WuXi Biologics is expected to receive upfront payments, milestone payments and royalties on global sales for these programs.

"This historic partnership marks a watershed event in the development of therapeutics for patients with rare diseases," said James Xue, PhD, Founder, Chairman and CEO, CANbridge Pharmaceutical Inc. "We believe it is a perfect marriage between two forward-thinking organizations and has the potential to change the world of rare disease dramatically in China, as well as globally."

"There are huge unmet medical needs in China regarding rare disease diagnosis and treatment," said Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics. "I am thrilled that CANbridge will be a trailblazer in this exciting field in China. Being globally recognized for leading technical capabilities, and unparalleled capacities in biologics discovery, development and manufacturing, we are excited to enable CANbridge to become a leader in rare diseases and to collaborate with them to bring the much-needed treatments to Chinese patients."

About WuXi Biologics

WuXi Biologics (stock code: 2269.HK), a Hong Kong, S.A.R., China-listed company, is the only open-access biologics technology platform in the world offering end-to-end solutions to empower organizations to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing. Our company history and achievements demonstrate our commitment to providing a truly ONE-stop service offering and value proposition to our global clients. As of June 30, 2018, there were a total of 187 integrated projects, including 98 projects in pre-clinical development stage, 78 projects in early-phase (phase I and II) clinical development, 10 projects in late-phase (phase III) development and 1 project in commercial manufacturing. With total estimated capacity of biopharmaceutical production planned in China, Ireland, Singapore and US reaching 220,000 liters by 2021, we will provide our biomanufacturing partners with a robust and premier-quality global supply chain network.

About CANbridge Pharmaceutical Inc.

CANbridge Pharmaceutical Inc. is a China-based bio-pharmaceutical company accelerating development and commercialization of specialty healthcare products for orphan diseases and targeted cancers, focusing on products that are unavailable or address medical needs that are underserved in the region.

CANbridge has been widely recognized as a leader in orphan diseases in China, and has a partnership with WuXi Biologics to develop and commercialize proprietary therapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases. CANbridge also has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Puma Biotechnology’s NERLYNX® (neratinib) in China, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, S.A.R., China and Macau, S.A.R., China (collectively, greater China); a license with Apogenix to develop and commercialize APG101 in greater China; a license (ex-North America) to develop and commercialize AVEO Oncology’s  ErbB3 (HER3) inhibitory antibody candidate AV203 and an agreement with EUSA Pharma to commercialize Caphosol® for the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis caused by cancer treatments, for which it has received approval in China.

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