Chinese biotech giant Wuxi AppTec sees first-half earnings surge amid US scrutiny

Strong orders for weight-loss and diabetes treatments drive firm’s growth, despite being caught up in US efforts to curb China’s ambitions

Wuxi AppTec, Asia’s largest provider of contract pharmaceutical research, posted net income that smashed market expectations in the first half of the year amid strong demand tied to weight-loss and diabetes drugs, as well as gains in its US business.

Interim net profit attributable to the owners of the Shanghai-based drug contractor advanced 33.7 per cent to 11.08 billion yuan (US$1.64 billion) from a year earlier, surpassing a Bloomberg mean consensus estimate – drawn from a pool of 25 analysts covering the stock – of a 14.5 per cent increase.

Driven by strong commercial momentum across various client drug programmes, “we delivered strong growth across revenue, profit and cash flow” in the first half of 2026, said Li Ge, chairman and CEO of Wuxi AppTec, in a statement on Monday.

The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares edged up 1.37 per cent to HK$162.90 on Monday. The stock has jumped about 62 per cent, year to date. Hong Kong’s stock benchmark, the Hang Seng Index, rose 0.48 per cent on Monday.

Sales in the United States climbed to 22.28 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, compared with 14.24 billion yuan during the same period last year. The US revenue accounted for about 77 per cent of its total revenue.