Editor’s Note: “Every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.” Over the past twenty-five years, from a single laboratory to a global network spanning Asia, Europe, and North America; from early chemical synthesis services to an integrated platform that connects Research (R), Development (D), and Manufacturing (M); from its very first customer to thousands of partners across more than thirty countries, WuXi AppTec has never stopped moving forward to realize its enduring vision. 

In tribute to the journey and in celebration of new beginnings, we look back through the eyes of our “dream-makers:” revisiting the stories of partnership that empowered global innovation, and the unique spirit that continues to guide us toward the next chapter.

Late at night, after a long day filled with back-to-back meetings and calls across different time zones, Yu Lu sits down at her piano. Her fingers move gently across the keys, practicing chords she only recently began to learn. She says that starting something new keeps her calm and focused.

“Learning piano at this age reminds me that every beginning looks a little messy,” she laughs. “But that’s also what makes creating something from zero to one so satisfying.”

That same love of learning and building shaped her career. Now, Lu leads WuXi TIDES, WuXi AppTec’s integrated CRDMO platform supporting drug discovery, development, and manufacturing for oligonucleotides, peptides, and related conjugated medicines. As WuXi AppTec celebrates its 25th anniversary, we invited Lu to look back on the journey of building the TIDES platform, and how an idea in 2017 has now become a reliable partner helping hundreds of innovative companies bring new treatments to life.

The First Note

When people ask how WuXi TIDES began, Lu’s answer is always simple. At the time, she was working in business operations. “As our services grew, we always think about what could drive the next wave of progress,” she recalls.

Market research pointed to two promising new modalities: oligonucleotides and peptides. In 2017, both were at a turning point.

For oligonucleotides, many large pharmaceutical companies had stepped back from the field, but pioneers like Alnylam, Ionis, and Arrowhead were proving that the science worked. Patisiran, an RNA interference therapy, showed strong results in trials and was approved by the FDA the next year. That approval brought fresh confidence to the entire industry.

At the same time, peptide research is about to start a new era with the arrival of GLP-1 receptor agonists for diabetes and later, weight management. These long-acting peptide drugs were changing the way chronic diseases were treated. 

Yet, the world’s development and manufacturing capacity was far behind the growing demand.

With every challenge comes an opportunity. “No one at WuXi AppTec had done this before, including me,” she says. “But I believed it was the right direction for the future.”

By early 2018, WuXi AppTec had formed its first oligonucleotide and peptide process development teams. Two years later, the group launched its first large scale oligonucleotide manufacturing plant and first large scale peptide plant. In 2022, WuXi TIDES officially came to life as one of the only global platforms combining discovery, development, and manufacturing for both oligonucleotides and peptides.

The journey, Lu says, felt like running several startups inside one company. “Our biggest challenge was finding and developing talent,” she recalls. “We brought together people who shared the same passion for new modalities, some were new graduates, others came from different departments within WuXi AppTec, and we built a training system to help them grow quickly.”

Today, WuXi TIDES has more than 1,600 scientists, most trained through its own programs, including customized TIDES courses and cross-team workshops. “Our people’s ability to learn on their own is amazing,” she says. “That’s why we’ve been able to move forward so quickly.”

The Power of WuXi Speed

Speed, Lu says, is one of WuXi TIDES’ most irreplaceable strengths.

Many of its projects complete all the CMC work needed for IND filing in just nine to ten months, about six months faster than the industry average.

How do they do it? “Because of our end-to-end integration,” Lu explains. “From discovery to commercial manufacturing, multiple teams work at the same time. Very few others can do that.”

Technology also plays a big role. Built on WuXi AppTec’s long experience in chemistry, the TIDES platform brings together solid-phase and liquid-phase synthesis, biocatalysis, flow chemistry, and more.

Lu’s drive for innovation is tied closely to her commitment to quality, something she and her team built from zero. “In the early days of our peptide platform, there was a test for chiral amino acids that only one company in the world could do,” she recalls. “Everyone had to ship samples there, which took weeks to get results and made real-time quality control impossible.”

Instead of accepting the delay, Lu asked her analytical team to develop their own method. Within a few months, WuXi TIDES had created a reliable in-house solution. “That’s what defines us,” she says. “Whenever we face a challenge that affects quality, our attitude is simple. If it’s the right thing to do, we’ll do it, no matter how hard it is.”

All these capabilities come together to help clients move faster. When a Boston biotech developing a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy couldn’t find anyone able to scale their first clinical candidate, WuXi TIDES stepped in. 

Teams across peptide, PMO, PPMO conjugation, drug product, and analytical worked together to accelerate the program, bringing it to IND in just 11 months.

Soon after, the company secured new funding and expanded its research pipeline. “The client told us, ‘No one else could do the work like WuXi TIDES,’” Lu says with a smile. “That’s exactly why we built this platform.”

Enabling an Industry

WuXi TIDES has not only supported its clients — it has helped reshape the entire industry.

When the platform first started, the global supply of oligonucleotide materials was fragile. Many key reagents came from just few suppliers. Lu recalls one urgent case a few years ago when a client needed more than 400 kilograms across 100 batches of a critical oligonucleotide as a vaccine adjuvant to fight COVID-19 pandemic, one of the largest production campaigns ever attempted in the oligonucleotide field.

“The demand and speed required were unlike anything we had seen before,” Lu says. At that time, even buying a single raw material could take months, yet WuXi TIDES had only nine months to deliver. “We found ways, actually many ways, to overcome the supply challenges and still deliver on time,” she says. That experience taught her a lasting lesson. “Our clients and patients around the world simply cannot wait.”

Since then, WuXi TIDES has built its own internal production for complex monomers and linkers. At the same time, it worked side by side with external suppliers covering a wide range of key materials used in oligonucleotide production to raise their quality standards. “We didn’t work in isolation,” Lu explains. “We grew together with our partners.”

Now, several qualified vendors can supply every critical raw material, making the entire system stronger and more resilient. To Lu, this is how her team enables the whole ecosystem.

At a major conference last year, one of the field’s long-time leaders expressed his thanks to WuXi TIDES. “He told us our work had transformed the oligonucleotide industry, reducing costs, accelerating timelines, and making these medicines more affordable,” Lu recalls. “Coming from someone who had been a pioneer for decades, that recognition meant a lot. It showed that what we’re doing truly makes a difference.”

Looking ahead, Lu already sees the next wave of innovation taking shape.

In peptides, GLP-1 drugs continue to reshape global healthcare, while complex conjugates such as PDCs, RDCs, and POCs are opening new frontiers in targeted delivery. In oligonucleotides, new treatments are expanding from rare diseases to cardiovascular and central nervous system disorders, and even into weight-management therapies.

WuXi TIDES is keeping pace by strengthening its CRDMO model, expanding its research base by nearly 50 percent in the past year, and advancing green chemistry and operational excellence across its sites. New facilities in Singapore, Couvet (Switzerland), and Middletown (United States) are helping the platform become truly global.

“If we keep focusing on integration, innovation, and excellence,” Lu says, “we can continue supporting the industry, speeding up the development of peptide and oligonucleotide drugs, and helping more patients receive life-changing therapies sooner.”

The Next ‘Zero to One’

If Lu had to choose one word to describe her journey, it would be gratitude.

“I’m grateful to every department across WuXi AppTec for supporting TIDES, and grateful to have stood on the shoulders of so many great colleagues,” she says. “I’m also thankful for the chance to build something new with teams who share the same vision.”

When clients tell her that, thanks to WuXi TIDES, their medicines reached patients faster and at lower cost, she feels the company’s mission “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated” coming to life.

“It might sound like a distant dream,” she says, “but every day, with every project, we move a little closer. No matter the type of medicine, our goal is always the same, to bring out its full potential and deliver new hope to people around the world.”

And just like the music she plays at the piano late at night, it’s a journey that always begins and begins again, from zero to one.