Europe’s Biotech Inflection Point
At BIO-Europe, WuXi AppTec Co-CEO Dr. Steve Yang outlined how strategic partnerships can unlock Europe’s untapped biotech potential
When BIO-Europe opened its doors this year in Vienna, the conversation quickly gravitated toward one theme: how Europe can convert its scientific strength into global impact. On stage, Dr. Steve Yang joined a high-level panel on the future of strategic partnerships, an area where the company collaborates with around 500 European customers. His message was clear: Europe is poised for growth, but success will depend on how fast, and how effectively, it builds and scales collaborative models.
Dr. Yang described how partnerships have evolved from transactional engagements into deeply integrated collaborations. In fields such as peptides, oligonucleotides and other complex modalities, he explained, progress requires cross-functional governance, rapid decision cycles and joint scientific problem-solving. These structures allow projects to move smoothly across discovery, development and manufacturing, a process he likened to a relay, where every handoff must be seamless to preserve speed and quality.
TRUST FORGED UNDER PRESSURE
For Dr. Yang, trust is not built in conference rooms but in moments of shared pressure. At year’s end, for example, emerging biotechs often request accelerated study packages ahead of crucial partnering meetings in early January. Meeting these requests requires WuXi AppTec to coordinate globally, maintain flexible capacity and mobilize teams across time zones. Delivering under such constraints, he noted, frequently becomes the turning point that cements a long-term partnership. These “crunch periods” demonstrate reliability not in theory, but in execution.
As the discussion at BIO-Europe focused on operational realities and partnership models, Dr. Yang offered a complementary view when speaking later that month at the Sofinnova Growth & Innovation Summit in London. There, he broadened the lens to the global forces shaping these collaborations. Capital is returning to biotech, demand for complex modalities is rising, and innovation is spreading faster than ever. Breakthroughs in areas such as T-cell engagers or next-generation immunotherapy concepts now circulate worldwide within months, triggering rapid waves of follow-on research. Europe is part of this momentum, but as Dr. Yang stressed, its scientific creativity must be matched with the operational velocity needed to make a true difference to patients.
PROVIDING THE BACKBONE FOR DRUG DEVELOPMENT
WuXi AppTec’s role in this landscape is intentionally focused: the company does not compete with its customers, does not retain IP and does not run an independent R&D pipeline. Instead, it provides the infrastructure and scientific depth that help innovators bridge the high-risk “valley of death” from discovery to early clinical development. Its integrated CRDMO platform—spanning discovery, development and commercial manufacturing, has become an essential capability for startups and established pharma alike.
Europe is central to this strategy. WuXi AppTec has expanded its Munich R&D site and maintains manufacturing capabilities in Switzerland. These investments strengthen WuXi AppTec’s ability to support customers throughout Europe and provide them with the scientific and operational capabilities they need to advance their programs efficiently. The company’s expanded capabilities also reflect a broader industry shift toward complex modalities. One example is WuXi AppTec’s peptide manufacturing platform, now exceeding 100,000 liters, which has enabled faster progress for programs in areas such as metabolic disease. The scale and integration of such platforms illustrate how WuXi AppTec supports innovators working in technically demanding fields.
THE ROAD AHEAD: WUXI APPTEC’S PERSPECTIVE ON FUTURE PARTNERSHIPS
Looking to the future, Dr. Steve Yang expects two forces to reshape collaborations: the globalization of innovation and the accelerating speed of knowledge transfer. Both trends increase the need for partners with broad geographic reach, technical depth and the ability to guide programs across stages without losing momentum. In this environment, WuXi AppTec’s globally integrated CRDMO platform is designed to provide exactly that continuity, enabling innovators to move from discovery to development and manufacturing without fragmentation or delay.
For Europe, this is both an opportunity and a call to action. The region’s scientific foundations are strong, but success will hinge on building strategic partnerships that pair discovery excellence with executional scale. By offering access to global capabilities while working closely with European teams, WuXi AppTec aims to help bridge that gap. As Dr. Steve Yang summarized at BIO-Europe, “quality by design, speed by design” is no longer a technical aspiration, it is the operating model required to turn Europe’s breakthroughs into real-world therapies.
