WuXi AppTec raised its full year guidance for the second time this year on October 26, lifting its 2026 revenue target to RMB 61.0 to 61.9 billion from RMB 58.5 to 60.5 billion, and its expected continuing operations revenue growth to 40 to 42 percent from 35 to 39 percent. Revenue for the first three quarters rose 38.6 percent year on year to RMB 45.54 billion, with continuing operations revenue up 46.3 percent, led by a 51.5 percent increase in WuXi Chemistry. Third quarter revenue alone was RMB 16.64 billion, up 38.0 percent.
Profitability rose faster than sales. Adjusted non-IFRS net profit grew 74.4 percent to RMB 18.38 billion over the nine months, and the backlog for continuing operations reached RMB 76.74 billion at September 30, up 36.4 percent. The company distributed RMB 6.22 billion in cash dividends over the period. Chairman and chief executive Ge Li attributed the results to the greater success of multiple customers’ products and to the company’s integrated contract research, development and manufacturing model.
The political backdrop is the contrast. Endpoints News framed the raise as delivered in the face of WuXi’s court case against the United States Department of Defense, which has designated the company a Chinese military company, a listing WuXi disputes. A separate Treasury proposal reported this week, covered in today’s also notable roundup, would add biotechnology to the outbound investment screening regime, although licensing and services arrangements of the kind WuXi sells are not its direct target.
For the sector, WuXi is the cleanest available gauge of whether decoupling is real in drug development outsourcing. On these numbers it is not, yet: customers are committing larger backlogs to the company at the same time as Washington adds screening layers around Chinese biotechnology.