WuXi PharmaTech  Inc., a  pharmaceutical , biotechnology and medical device research and development outsourcing company with operations in China and the United States, today announced it has reached an agreement with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. , to collaborate in the area of preclinical services.

Under the agreement, WuXi PharmaTech will become a provider of toxicology and other non-clinical services to JANSSEN. In addition, JANSSEN 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 facility, the largest in China with 314,000 square feet of space, was completed at the end of 2008. In 2009, the company 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.

Commenting on the agreement, Dr. Ge Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WuXi PharmaTech, said, “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.”