药明合联(2268.HK)2026年中期业绩：调整后净利润首破10亿元，收入增37%，订单储备达20亿美元

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Introduction & Market Context
WuXi XDC (HKEX:2268) presented its first-half 2026 results on August 25 in Hong Kong, reporting adjusted net profit exceeding RMB 1 billion for the first time in a six-month period as the antibody-drug conjugate contract development and manufacturing organization continued its rapid expansion. The company’s shares surged 14.83% to $80.15, approaching the upper end of its 52-week range of $43.5 to $85.5, as investors responded to accelerating growth, margin expansion, and a swelling pipeline of commercial opportunities.
The bioconjugation specialist reported consolidated revenue of RMB 3,701.4 million, representing 37.0% growth on an actual exchange rate basis and 41.5% on a constant-currency basis, significantly outpacing the industry average growth rate of approximately 25.6%. The results underscored WuXi XDC’s position as the dominant player in the ADC contract services market, with the company claiming more than 40% market share in integrated chemistry, manufacturing and conjugation project signings.
Financial Performance Highlights
The company’s financial performance demonstrated both top-line momentum and improving profitability. As detailed in the following consolidated financial metrics, WuXi XDC delivered broad-based growth across all key indicators.
Consolidated revenue reached RMB 3,701.4 million, up 37.0% year-over-year on an actual exchange rate basis and 41.5% on a constant-currency basis. The stronger constant-currency growth reflected underlying business momentum beyond foreign exchange effects, as most service contracts are denominated in U.S. dollars while the company’s functional currency is Renminbi.
Gross profit climbed 40.6% to RMB 1,371.3 million, with gross margin expanding from 36.1% in the first half of 2025 to 37.0%. This margin improvement came despite the consolidation of BioDlink, which management noted is still loss-making. The company attributed the expansion to sustained high utilization rates across existing facilities, successful production line ramp-ups, continuous process optimization, and an increased contribution from higher value-added services.
The milestone achievement came in adjusted net profit attributable to owners of the company, which increased 37.4% to RMB 1,027.3 million—the first time the company crossed the RMB 1 billion threshold in a half-year period. The adjusted net margin remained stable at 27.8%, demonstrating the company’s ability to scale profitably.
WuXi XDC’s standalone performance, excluding the BioDlink consolidation, showed similar strength with revenue of RMB 3,556 million and an even higher gross margin of 37.6%.
Business Growth & Project Pipeline
WuXi XDC’s "Enable – Follow – Win" strategy continued to drive robust project growth across the development spectrum. The company signed 51 new integrated chemistry, manufacturing and conjugation projects in the first half of 2026, up from 37 in the same period of 2025 and positioning the company to exceed its full-year target of at least 80 iCMC signings.
The following visualization illustrates the company’s comprehensive project funnel, demonstrating progress across research, development, and manufacturing stages.
The funnel shows 1,325 cumulative discovery projects, 328 ongoing iCMC projects, and 162 ongoing post-IND bioconjugate projects as of June 30, 2026. Notably, the company reported 27 IND submissions in the first half, bringing cumulative submissions to more than 160 since inception.
Management highlighted that approximately 75% of newly signed iCMC projects involved emerging modalities such as bispecific ADCs, dual-payload ADCs, and other novel XDC formats, signaling a strategic shift toward next-generation bioconjugates beyond traditional ADCs.
As shown in the following breakdown of newly signed projects, WuXi XDC is capturing opportunities across innovative modalities and geographies.
The sustained momentum in project signings, with 51 new iCMC projects in the first half representing a 38% increase year-over-year, demonstrates the company’s ability to capture market share in a rapidly growing sector. The U.S. and China emerged as primary growth drivers, though the company serves customers across all major pharmaceutical markets.
Commercial Pipeline Development
A critical development in WuXi XDC’s evolution is the maturation of its commercial pipeline. The company now supports 21 process performance qualification projects, up from approximately 19 at year-end 2025, and maintains two commercial projects with active supply in China.
The following profile illustrates the characteristics and strategic positioning of the company’s PPQ and commercial pipeline.
The 21 PPQ projects include both commercially validated mechanisms of action and next-generation ADCs, with approximately 50% representing overseas projects and nine involving multinational pharmaceutical or biopharma customers. Notably, one-third of PPQ projects target first-line treatment indications, positioning WuXi XDC to capture opportunities in potentially large commercial markets.
The company recorded its first commercial backlog of approximately $120 million, marking an important milestone in the transition from primarily clinical-stage work to commercial manufacturing. Management expects more biologics license application filings from PPQ programs to reinforce commercial visibility, targeting 4 to 6 BLA submissions in 2026 and 12 to 15 by 2028.
Customer Base & Market Position
WuXi XDC’s customer base continued its rapid expansion, reaching 814 cumulative customers by mid-2026. The following chart demonstrates the company’s accelerating customer acquisition trajectory.
The company now serves 15 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies, with these multinational pharma customers contributing approximately 34% of revenue. This diversified customer base provides both stability and growth potential, as WuXi XDC maintains strong traction across licensing deals (90%+ of publicly disclosed industry deals from January to July 2026), financing deals (60%+), and M&A transactions (100%).
Technology Platforms & Innovation
WuXi XDC’s proprietary technology platforms continue to differentiate its service offering and drive project wins. The company’s WuXiDARX™ and WuXi Payload-Linker™ platforms enable next-generation ADC development without requiring antibody engineering or enzyme-based conjugation.
The WuXiDAR4™ technology has been applied to more than 10 iCMC projects, with eight in clinical development. The company successfully out-licensed its WuXiTecan-2™ payload-linker technology to two companies, including Earendil Labs and a European biotech company, in deals with a total value of $885 million including upfront fees, clinical and commercial milestones, and tiered sales royalties.
The scale of WuXi XDC’s research capabilities is illustrated in the following breakdown of bioconjugate molecules created.
With more than 22,000 bioconjugate molecules created cumulatively, including 5,100+ payload-linkers and 4,400+ protein carriers, WuXi XDC maintains the industry’s most extensive library of bioconjugation expertise. The company successfully advanced 13 discovery-stage programs into iCMC projects in the first half of 2026, with approximately 50% falling within the novel ADC/XDC category.
The company’s research engine explored more than 3,100 ADC and XDC molecules in the first half of 2026 alone, as shown in the following distribution.
This research activity spans regular ADCs (approximately 1,350 molecules), bispecific ADCs (approximately 200), dual-payload ADCs (approximately 120), and diverse XDC modalities including antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (approximately 300), antibody-peptide conjugates (approximately 260), and drug-antibody conjugates (approximately 250).
Global Manufacturing Expansion
WuXi XDC’s global manufacturing footprint expanded significantly with the Singapore site achieving GMP release for monoclonal antibody and bioconjugation manufacturing in August 2026, with drug product capabilities scheduled for release by month-end.
The following map illustrates the company’s integrated global network spanning research and manufacturing operations.
The company operates major hubs in Wuxi (all-in-one manufacturing for the entire bioconjugates supply chain), Shanghai (global R&D center), Suzhou through BioDlink (mAb, drug substance, and drug product manufacturing), and Singapore (mAb intermediate, drug substance, and drug product). Under-construction sites include Jiangyin for payload-linker manufacturing and Hefei for peptide and oligonucleotide synthesis R&D.
With a global workforce exceeding 3,600 employees as of June 30, 2026—including 950+ newly added worldwide—WuXi XDC is scaling its organization to support continued growth. The WuXi XDC standalone headcount surpassed 3,100, with more than 50% holding master’s degrees or above.
The company committed to RMB 8 billion in capital expenditures from 2026 to 2030, supporting construction of linker payload facilities at the Jiangyin site and opportunities for overseas expansion. This investment underpins the company’s "global dual sourcing" strategy, providing clients with manufacturing options in both China and Singapore.
Revenue Composition & Backlog Growth
WuXi XDC’s revenue remained balanced between pre-IND and post-IND projects, with post-IND work accounting for 58% of total revenue in the first half of 2026. The following breakdown illustrates revenue composition by project status and geographic region.
Pre-IND revenue growth highlights the company’s strong research and development capabilities, while post-IND revenue, representing more than 50% of the total, reflects increased manufacturing batch execution. Geographically, North America remained the largest contributor, though China revenue increased meaningfully, partly due to BioDlink integration and its China-centric operations.
Service backlog reached approximately $2.0 billion, up 50.4% year-over-year, while total backlog including upcoming milestone fees climbed to approximately $2.2 billion, representing 62.2% growth. The WuXi XDC standalone total backlog reached approximately $2.1 billion, up 57.9% year-over-year.
The emergence of commercial backlog as more ADC programs advance into the BLA stage provides increasing visibility into future revenue streams and validates the company’s "follow the molecule" strategy of supporting projects from discovery through commercial manufacturing.
Margin Improvement Trajectory
Both consolidated and standalone operations demonstrated margin expansion in the first half of 2026, as illustrated in the following comparison.
WuXi XDC standalone gross margin improved to 37.6%, up 150 basis points from 36.1% in the first half of 2025, while the adjusted net profit margin expanded to 28.9% from 27.7%. The consolidated group achieved similar improvements despite absorbing BioDlink’s loss-making operations, with gross margin reaching 37.0% and adjusted net margin holding steady at 27.8%.
Management attributed the margin improvements to maintaining high utilization rates of existing facilities, successful ramp-up of production lines, continuous process optimization, ongoing operational excellence initiatives, and increased contribution from higher value-added services.
Strategic Initiatives & BioDlink Integration
WuXi XDC’s acquisition of a majority controlling stake exceeding 60% in BioDlink during the first quarter of 2026 added manufacturing capacity and created integration opportunities. BioDlink operates multiple drug substance and drug product lines in Suzhou, contributing to the group’s expanded service offering.
Management outlined four key synergy values from the BioDlink integration: strategic alliances and partnerships to strengthen competitive positioning, service upgrade and differentiation to capture premium market segments, continuous process optimization and capacity utilization improvement, and sustainable revenue and profit growth through a three-year CDMO master services agreement.
The payload-linker business emerged as a strategic growth driver, with management targeting growth that outpaces the group’s overall expansion. The company’s in-house payload-linker manufacturing network strengthens its differentiated "one-stop" strategy, providing seamless support across the entire value chain. More than 10 payload-linker projects have advanced into the PPQ stage, demonstrating the standalone payload-linker business’s rapid growth trajectory.
Forward-Looking Strategy & 2030 Vision
WuXi XDC outlined an ambitious commercialization strategy targeting systematic growth through 2030, built around diversified manufacturing capabilities, a rich project funnel, and globalization.
The company established clear growth targets by 2030: 20% of revenue from XDC modalities (beyond traditional ADCs) and 20% of revenue from commercial manufacturing projects. This represents a significant shift from the current business mix, which remains weighted toward pre-commercial development work.
To achieve these targets, WuXi XDC is expanding manufacturing capacity across modalities (from ADCs to bispecific ADCs, AOCs, APCs, and dual-payload ADCs), geography (domestic and overseas expansion), and project stages (targeting 60+ cumulative PPQ components and 12-15 BLA submissions by 2028).
Management maintained its full-year 2026 guidance for consolidated revenue growth of approximately 30% on a constant-currency basis and standalone revenue growth of at least 35%. The company expects gross margin to remain in a 36% to 37% range, with potential fluctuation due to the Singapore ramp-up and BioDlink integration costs.
For project signings, WuXi XDC expects at least 80 iCMC contracts in 2026, up from 70 in 2025. The company anticipates 4 to 6 biologics license application submissions in 2026, positioning it to capture an increasing share of the commercial ADC market as programs advance through late-stage development.
Industry Recognition & ESG Leadership
WuXi XDC’s market leadership was recognized through industry awards, including "Best CDMO" honors at the World ADC Awards for three consecutive years (2023, 2024, and 2025) and the "Best CRO" award at the 2025 World ADC Awards. The company also achieved ESG A ratings from MSCI and Wind, and was recognized as an Industry ESG Leader by Morningstar Sustainalytics.
These recognitions underscore WuXi XDC’s position as the dominant player in bioconjugate contract services, though the company faces increasing competition as established CDMOs like Lonza and Samsung Biologics build ADC capabilities. Management’s decision to maintain rather than raise full-year guidance despite strong first-half results suggests a cautious approach to execution risks, particularly around the Singapore site ramp-up and BioDlink integration.
The 14.83% stock price increase to $80.15 following the results announcement indicates strong investor confidence in WuXi XDC’s growth trajectory, commercial pipeline development, and ability to maintain profitability while scaling operations. With shares trading near the top of their 52-week range, the market appears to be pricing in continued execution on the company’s ambitious 2030 vision.
Full presentation:
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