Marie Zhu
Chief Technology Officer & Executive Vice President WuXi Biologics
Dr. Marie Zhu is the Chief Technology Officer at WuXi XDC, where she oversees the Discovery and Development Division. Her responsibilities include leading initiatives in new technology discovery, early discovery services, bioconjugate process development, and analytical and bioassay development. With over 29 years of extensive experience in biopharmaceuticals, Dr. Zhu has held significant positions at leading global companies such as Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Xencor, Astellas, MabPlex, and RemeGen.
She has been instrumental in the development of more than 25 biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins, and bispecific antibodies, leading candidates from early-phase clinical trials through to BLA submission. Specializing in antibody-drug conjugates since 2009, she has directed her teams to achieve over 10 FDA- and NMPA-approved IND applications for ADC programs. Notably, she contributed to the development of Padcev, which gained FDA approval for urothelial cancer in 2019. After returning to China in 2019, she led the late-stage CMC development and BLA filing for Disitamab Vedotin (Aidexi), China’s first homegrown ADC, approved in 2021 for gastric cancer.
Seminars
- Advancing next-generation dual-payload ADCs to address traditional challenges like drug resistance and narrow therapeutic windows
- Leveraging WuXiDARx™ technology for flexible DAR1-6 and WuXiTecan2™ hydrophilic linker, enabling streamlined dual-payload construction without antibody engineering
- Demonstrating a substantially wider therapeutic index alongside significantly enhanced anti-tumor efficacy in proof-of-concept studies
