WuXi PharmaTech and Covance have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to create a 50/50 joint venture to provide preclinical contract research services in China. Operations of the proposed joint venture will be located in a 323,450-sq.-ft., purpose-built facility in Suzhou, China, which is currently being built by WuXi. This facility, expected to be completed in 2009 and designed to meet the FDA and worldwide regulatory standards, will provide GLP toxicology, drug metabolism and bioanalytical chemistry services. In addition to the facility, which will be provided by WuXi, Covance plans to make an initial investment of approximately $30 million. Financial and structural details of the joint venture are expected to be disclosed once definitive terms are agreed and the entity is officially formed later this year.

Said Joe Herring, Covance chairman and chief executive officer, "Covance and WuXi share a common commitment to quality, people, and building client relationships based on trust and performance. Covance's market-leading and high-quality preclinical operations, combined with WuXi's track record of delivering world-class drug discovery and development services, will enable us to provide superior drug development solutions to our global pharmaceutical and biotech clients in the region."

Dr. Ge Li, chairman and chief executive officer of WuXi PharmaTech, added, "We will be able to immediately leverage Covance's world-class expertise and global network. This will allow us to accelerate bringing a full-range of preclinical services and GLP toxicology capabilities to this facility. The partnership is important to our mission of building a global R&D outsourcing service platform that will ultimately help our partners to improve the success of discovery and shorten the time of development."

News from our sister sites