(Reuters) – China's WuXi AppTec said on Tuesday that its subsidiaries have signed an agreement with U.S.-based private equity firm Altaris LLC to sell its cell and gene therapy manufacturing unit, WuXi Advanced Therapies, for an undisclosed sum.
The company, along with other Chinese companies, has been at the center of new US laws aimed at restricting its business in the US due to national security concerns.
The US House of Representatives passed a bill last September prohibiting federal contracts with targeted companies and those that deal with them.
The bills are designed to protect Americans' personal health and genetic information from foreign adversaries and are intended to push American pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to reduce their dependence on China for everything from manufacturing drug ingredients to early research.
WuXi said it will also sell Oxford Genetics, the operating entity of WuXi's UK-based ATU business, to Altaris LLC.
Altaris declined to comment beyond specific details while WuXi AppTec did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
