China-based life science giant WuXi AppTec has seen its contract research unit tick up, but it's still being hit by pandemic challenges.
Overall, its clinical research and other CRO services saw revenue of RMB 500 million ($72.3 million), representing a year-over-year growth of 5.9% but in fact dragged down its overall growth, which was up 22.7% to RMB 7.2 billion.
Much of its growth came from its contract manufacturing and development units as well as its China-based laboratory services, which “mitigated any challenges faced by our U.S.-based laboratory services and clinical research services,” said Ge Li, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of WuXi AppTec.
He added: “Our U.S.-based laboratory services, clinical research and other CRO services segments, although severely impacted by COVID-19, still realized revenue growth and our backlog continued to improve quarter-over-quarter.”
China was at the center of the original COVID-19 pandemic last year and hit hard, with severe lockdowns in early 2020 hitting much of its economy and businesses. It has since rebounded, opening up more and more in the past few months, while Europe and notable the Americas have become the hardest hit.
This has meant its China business has been able to pick up, but its U.S. lab services have not.
“2020 has been a year full of challenges and opportunities,” said Li. “We are determined to navigate through the challenges posed by COVID-19 in partnership with our global customers, and are committed to working alongside our customers and partners in the global healthcare community to keep the R&D and manufacturing engine humming.”