(Reuters) – China’s WuXi Biologics said on Monday it will sell its vaccine facility in Ireland to Merck for about $500 million.
WuXi had previously said it was planning to sell some of its operations as the company, along with other Chinese firms, has been at the center of new U.S. laws aimed at restricting their businesses in the United States due to national security concerns.
The bill, called the Biosecure Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in September, is designed to keep Americans’ personal health and genetic information from foreign adversaries and to push local pharmaceutical and biotech companies to reduce their reliance on China for everything from drug ingredient manufacturing to early research.
WuXi AppTec had said in December its subsidiaries had signed a deal with U.S.-based private equity firm Altaris LLC for the sale of its cell and gene therapy manufacturing unit, WuXi Advanced Therapies, for an undisclosed sum.
(Reporting by Sneha S K; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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