NEW YORK & SHANGHAI — Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and WuXi STA – a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec – today announced that WuXi STA has agreed to purchase Bristol Myers Squibb’s manufacturing facility in Couvet, Switzerland. The Couvet site will be the first facility in Europe for WuXi STA, a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization. The acquisition will enhance WuXi STA’s existing capabilities while growing capacity to support its partners’ life-saving work.
The companies anticipate completing the transaction by Q2 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other closing conditions. Upon closing, WuXi STA will acquire the Couvet site’s operations and assets, which include the plant and equipment, as well as a workforce with technical capabilities and expertise.
“The Couvet site is a world-class facility designed for quality, safety, and efficiency, and we believe WuXi STA will be able to leverage the capacity and capabilities for its own operations as it continues to play a vital role for patients around the world,” said Lou Schmukler, President, Global Product Development and Supply, Bristol Myers Squibb. “This is an important step in the ongoing evolution of our manufacturing network to support our product portfolio. Switzerland remains an important strategic location for Bristol Myers Squibb, and we look forward to maintaining a strong presence in the Neuchâtel area.”
“We are pleased to add the Couvet manufacturing facility to our growing global manufacturing site network and look forward to working with the talented team who share our focus on excellence and a patient-centered approach,” said Dr. Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA. “The acquisition will allow WuXi STA to better serve European markets and support our global customers to deliver innovative medicines and treatments to patients around the world.”
The Couvet facility will continue to operate as part of Bristol Myers Squibb’s manufacturing network until the closing of the transaction.
William Blair and Company, LLC, is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Bristol Myers Squibb, and Covington & Burling LLP is serving as legal counsel.
About the Couvet Facility
The Couvet site is located in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The site is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with commercial-scale production capacity for capsule and tablet dosage forms. The facility was designed with industry leading energy efficiency and environmental standards and was constructed to accommodate future growth.
About Bristol Myers Squibb
Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
About WuXi STA
WuXi STA, a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec, is a leading pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capability and technology platform company serving the life sciences industry, with global operations. As a premier Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), WuXi STA offers our worldwide partners efficient, flexible and high-quality solutions for integrated CMC (Chemical, Manufacturing, and Control) solutions from preclinical to commercial uses. For more information, please visit: https://sta-webtest.wuxiapptec.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn.
About WuXi AppTec
WuXi AppTec provides a broad portfolio of R&D and manufacturing services that enable companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries worldwide to advance discoveries and deliver groundbreaking treatments to patients. As an innovation-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi AppTec helps our partners improve the productivity of advancing healthcare products through cost-effective and efficient, socially responsible and sustainable solutions. With industry-leading capabilities such as R&D and manufacturing for small molecule drugs, cell and gene therapies, and testing for medical devices, WuXi AppTec’s open-access platform is enabling more than 4,100 collaborators from over 30 countries to improve the health of those in need – and to realize our vision that “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.” Please visit: www.wuxiapptec.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products and the proposed transaction. All statements that are not statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and current expectations and projections about our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them in the next several years, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. These risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the completion of the information and consultation processes with employees or relevant employee representative bodies, if any, in connection with the proposed transaction, the parties’ ability to satisfy certain closing conditions, any delay or inability of Bristol Myers Squibb to realize the expected benefits of the proposed transaction and that the proposed transaction will close on the terms or within the time frame described in this document. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect Bristol Myers Squibb’s business and market, particularly those identified in the cautionary statement and risk factors discussion in Bristol Myers Squibb’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law, Bristol Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Bristol Myers Squibb Contacts:
Media:
Investors:
Tim Power, 609-252-7509, timothy.power@bms.com
Nina Goworek, 908-673-9711, nina.goworek@bms.com
WuXi Contacts
Media:
Davy Wu, +86-21-2066-3111, mediainquiries@wuxiapptec.com
Investors:
Tianyi Zhang, zhang_tianyi0101@wuxiapptec.com
