Singapore: In an effort to advance its breast cancer treatment, Ambrx has now partnered with WuXi PharmaTech and a Chinese drugmaker.

As per the deal, Ambrx and Zhejiang Medicine will co-develop ARX788, an ADC driven treatment that targets HER2-positive breast cancer. WuXi, on the other hand, will handle preclinical development, clinical trials and toxin manufacturing.

Ambrx will handle the commercial rights of ARX788 throughout the world, while Zhejiang Medicine will be responsible for China, once it is ready.

The manufacturing capacity of Zhejiang and expertise of WuXi put together will help Ambrx bring down its R&D costs. "Staging the development process in China will give us an early start on SFDA approval and speed our path into a fast-growing market," said Lawson Macartney, CEO, Ambrx.

WuXi CEO Ge Li released a statement on the collaboration and said, "Our collaboration with Ambrx and ZMC on ARX788 is another example of how WuXi's comprehensive, integrated, open-access R&D services platform enables our partners to develop innovative products efficiently and cost-effectively to benefit the world's patients."

This is part of the growth of Ambrx that had last month signed a $15 million deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY), following an agreement with Astellas that could be worth $300 million and a handshake with Merck ($MRK) that could bring in $303 million.