Profile: WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (WX)

WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (WuXi), incorporated in December 2000, is a pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device research and development (R&D) outsourcing company, with operations in China and the United States. The Company provides a portfolio of laboratory and manufacturing services throughout the R&D process to its customers, which include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. In January 2008, the Company completed its acquisition of AppTec Laboratory Services, Inc.

The Company operates in two segments: laboratory services and manufacturing. Laboratory services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. Laboratory segment services for pharmaceutical companies, which include discovery and medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, discovery biology, safety pharmacology, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK), bioanalytical services, process research, formulation and toxicology. All of the AppTec testing business is included in laboratory services, which include biologics and medical device testing services. Manufacturing segment services for producing advanced intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for use by pharmaceutical companies in preclinical and clinical trials.

Laboratory Services

The Company provides integrated portfolio of pharmaceutical services, including discovery chemistry, analytical chemistry, discovery biology, medicinal chemistry, DMPK/ absorption, disposition, metabolism and excretion (ADME), safety pharmacology, bioanalytical services, process research and development, analytical development, formulation services and toxicology. Discovery chemistry services include the design and synthesis of focused libraries and custom analogues based on computational models, and structure-based drug design. Analytical chemistry services include chiral separation, large-scale chromatography separation, high-throughout purification, natural product purification, high-throughput physical property determination and isolation and analysis of impurities.

The Company develops molecular and cellular assays to test chemical compounds that it synthesize for biological activity. Biochemical and cell-based assays examine the activity of small-molecule compounds at receptors, enzymes, ion channels and signal transaction pathways. It offers in vivo pharmacokinetic studies in small and large mammals by measuring drug concentrations in a range of biological matrices, including blood, urine, bile, cerebrospinal fluid and tissues. It has capabilities to administer drugs using a variety of dosing routes and to provide results in a rapid turnaround time. Its in vitro ADME profiling services include analyzing the metabolic stability and permeability of drug candidates, interactions with transporters, drug-drug interactions and plasma protein binding.

The Company’s safety pharmacology services help to identify toxicity issues in drug compounds at the discovery stage, before preclinical and clinical testing. Its in vitro biochemical and cell-based assays provide information on compounds’ pharmacology. Its bioanalytical services include sample analyses to support preclinical and clinical studies of pharmocokinetics, toxicokinetics, phamacodynamics and immunogenicity. Its cGMP-quality kilo-lab and pilot plant help its customers to develop processes to manufacture drugs in increasing quantities, from laboratory quantities measured in milligrams/grams to scale-up quantities measured in kilograms, to process optimization quantities measured in hundreds of kilograms, to commercial quantities measured in metric tons.

The Company provides a range of analytical services to assist customers in drug development. It develops and validates methods of analyzing APIs and formulated products for properties, such as potency, purity and solubility. It offers a range of services to convert optimized lead compounds into formulated drugs suitable for preclinical and clinical testing and to assist in preparation of regulatory filings. Preformulation services include studies to identify the intrinsic physicochemical properties of compounds, to select an appropriate salt form, to characterize the particle size and flow properties of powders and to determine the compatibility of drug excipients. The Company offer in vivo and in vitro non-clinical safety evaluation, or toxicology, programs.

The Company provides services in antibody generation, cell line development and biologics safety testing that support customers’ biologics product development and commercialization. It offers cell-line development services that start when clients provide the cDNA and transfection vector for subsequent molecular cloning. It offers an array of biologics testing and characterization services. It also provides an array of analytical tests to evaluate a specific product lot prior to lot release; to evaluate product stability, including long-term stability in validated, temperature-controlled chambers for analytical and microbiological analysis and to characterize complex biopharmaceutical products, among other things. Its Philadelphia facility also provides good manufacturing practices (GMP) cell banking and stem-cell or cell-therapy manufacturing and testing services.

Manufacturing services

The Company offers manufacturing process development services of advanced intermediates and APIs for drug candidates to be tested in late-stage clinical trials. It has developed its own clinical-trial manufacturing services. We have an approximately 71,000 square-foot cGMP-quality manufacturing facility in the Jinshan Chemical Industry Development Zone of Shanghai.

The Company competes with Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., Shanghai ChemPartner Co., Ltd., BioDuro, BioReliance Corporation, NAMSA and Toxicon.