I-Mab Biopharma (I-Mab), a biotech company focusing exclusively on innovative biologics in immuno-oncology and auto-immune diseases, and WuXi Biologics, a leading global open-access biologics technology platform company offering end-to-end solutions for biologics discovery, development and manufacturing, jointly announced that the two companies have entered into a long-term strategic partnership on biologics process development, clinical and commercial manufacturing of I-Mab's highly innovative pipelines.

Under the terms of the partnership, I-Mab will leverage WuXi Bio's expertise and capabilities for CMC development of at least five programs and commercial manufacturing of at least one program for its proprietary monoclonal antibody, bispecific antibody and fusion protein pipelines, representing a significant expansion from the current projects that the two companies are already collaborating on.

"By integrating our CMC experience and product know-how with WuXi Bio's advanced technology and capabilities, we will be able to expedite our potential first-in-class and best-in-class biologics to the market to satisfy substantial unmet medical needs with high quality and speed," said Dr. Zheru Zhang, President of I-Mab.

 "This partnership further demonstrates powerful impact to our partners by combining our business strategy of 'Follow-the-Molecule' with our unique paradigm of 'Global Dual Sourcing within WuXi Bio'. We will continue to expand our robust and premier-quality global supply network in China, EU and the U.S. to enable partners and bring more biologics to patients worldwide," said Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics.