WuXi AppTec announces partnership with BaseLaunch
In an effort to further grow the flow of innovation centered in the Basel Area, WuXi AppTec and BaseLaunch have joined forces to help young biopharmaceutical enterprises overcome some of the toughest hurdles in bringing novel therapeutics to market.
BaseLaunch is a significant enabler in one of the largest biopharmaceutical hubs of the European continent. As an actor in the highly interconnected ecosystem of international pharmaceutical giants, world-renowned academic institutions, and visionary investors of the Basel Area and beyond, BaseLaunch partners with scientists and entrepreneurs to help launch and grow exceptional biotech companies. Since 2018, they have supported 13 startups from incubation through series A financing (over USD 200M so far raised) and closing acquisition partnerships.
BaseLaunch is uniquely positioned to offer young and bold endeavors the key building blocks to drive their success. Support is highly customized, providing whatever is needed to help the ventures succeed through a network of connections, consultants, and partners who eliminate some of the largest hurdles in the path from idea to commercialization. WuXi AppTec has recently joined that network as a Domain Partner.
“For over 20 years, we have been working with partners across sector lines to strengthen the biopharmaceutical industry. From virtual companies to self-made startups and university spinoffs, we understand sector-specific challenges and have collaborated on solutions at every stage of the therapeutic development pipeline. Our objective is to enable any player looking to make a difference in healthcare to advance towards their goal,” explains Dave Madge, Vice President of WuXi AppTec Research Service Division. “We are excited to bring that expertise into the infrastructure that BaseLaunch has built and nourished. We see this partnership as a cornerstone of our global initiative to foster advances in healthcare by ensuring that good ideas and agile young companies can find and leverage opportunities.”
WuXi AppTec operates an open-access platform for services in Research & Development and manufacturing under a vision that “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.” Several projects they support are collaborations to discover, develop, optimize, and advance future therapeutics based on novel concepts emerging from academic or basic research. WuXi AppTec has decades of experience developing small molecule drugs, cell and gene therapies, as well as testing medical devices.
As a Domain Partner, WuXi AppTec supports up-and-coming enterprises in the BaseLaunch portfolio in the discovery and development of future therapeutics. WuXi AppTec leverages comprehensive discovery and technology platforms to evaluate any drug modality, from small molecules and antibodies to bi-functional molecules (PROTACs) and cell and gene therapies. With peer-recognized scientific leadership and expertise in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, neurosciences, fibrosis, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, WuXi AppTec works collaboratively to rapidly advance programs from target through to preclinical selection and beyond. Startups can engage with WuXi AppTec scientists and technicians to plan, conduct, and evaluate studies in:
• In vivo and in vitro Pharmacology
• ADME/ DMPK
• Toxicology
Stephan Emmerth, Director BaseLaunch explains: “For many of our early-stage partners, shortening the roadmap to market means putting them in touch with our Domain Partners who can help them streamline processes and achieve milestones faster. Examining and profiling the behavior of candidate therapeutic agents within biological systems is an obligatory goal line for anyone bringing a pharmaceutical to market. Reaching that goal can be a complex process, fraught with pitfalls and setbacks. We believe that working with a world-class partner like WuXi AppTec helps young companies anticipate and mitigate risks. WuXi AppTec has deep knowledge of available technologies and assays so they can assist with developing experimental strategies and troubleshooting. They are familiar with best practices, can head off complications, and provide solutions to move projects forward. Finally, they own state-of-the-art facilities that allows drug discovery projects to commence as early as possible.”
With this partnership, WuXi AppTec becomes an active member of a dynamic community of innovation in the center of Europe. The Basel region is well-known as a biopharmaceutical hotspot, where a thriving cohort of small to medium-sized companies successfully emerge in a landscape of cutting-edge research institutions and technology parks. At the same time, WuXi AppTec enriches that community with its global reach and enabling infrastructure that can magnify the impact of new companies on global healthcare today and tomorrow. “Now more than ever, we have the opportunity to better meet the individual needs of patients with knowledge, expertise, and collaboration,” says Dave Madge. “This partnership is an important step to further enable healthcare innovation and realize our vision that ‘every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.’”
Read more about WuXi AppTec here.
