Chinese consortium, including Fosun and WuXi, buys USA's Ambrx

A Chinese consortium, consisting of entities affiliated with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group (HK: 02196), HOPU Investments, China Everbright’s health care fund (CEL Healthcare Fund), and WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX), has signed a merger agreement under which the Consortium will acquire privately-held US biotech firm Ambrx.

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015, subject to receipt of certain regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Ambrx is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing first-in-class and best-in-class optimized protein therapeutics known as bio-conjugates. The company's proprietary technology platforms enable attachment of pharmaceutically active molecules to specific sites within proteins more precisely than prior generations of bio-conjugates and with precision similar to that used to design small-molecule drugs. Ambrx has developed a pipeline of novel product candidates that include antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, bi- and multi-specific drug conjugates, and long-acting therapeutic proteins.