WuXi, J&J in Preclinical Pact

WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D, a Janssen subsidiary, have agreed to collaborate in the area of preclinical services. WuXi will become a provider of toxicology and other non-clinical services to Janssen, which will provide training and other services, reimbursed by WuXi, to establish the GLP quality system and technical capabilities to meet the international standards at WuXi’s toxicology facility in Suzhou, China.

Construction of this 314,000-sq.-ft. facility was completed at the end of 2008. In 2009, WuXi hired a management team with extensive international experience and made substantial progress in training an initial staff of technicians to perform GLP services. The facility is currently conducting non-GLP toxicology services, as well as client-sponsored GLP validation studies to demonstrate our growing capabilities. The company remains on target to begin offering GLP toxicology studies by mid-2010.

Dr. Ge Li, chairman and chief executive officer of WuXi PharmaTech, commented, “We are pleased to establish this new partnership with Janssen, which builds on our existing agreement to provide them with integrated pharmaceutical R&D services. We believe that China, with its high-quality scientific talent and favorable cost structure, is destined to become a major center for toxicology services over the next decade. We aim to become a leading provider of these services and to add toxicology to WuXi’s broad, integrated platform of laboratory and preclinical services.”