Shanghai, China and Sunnyvale, CA — December 10, 2009 —WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX), a leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device research and development outsourcing company with operations in China and the United States, announced today it has purchased a Labcyte POD™ 810 plate assembler equipped with an Echo® 555 acoustic liquid handler for its work in high-throughput screening and secondary screening. WuXi PharmaTech joins the growing number of pharmaceutical companies worldwide that have incorporated the POD system into their compound management and HTS processes.
“With this technology WuXi will remain the leader in pharmaceutical outsourcing—this demonstrates our continuous efforts to build both capabilities and capacity to help our partners to improve the success of discovery and shorten development time,” commented Dr Ge Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WuXi PharmaTech.
“Acoustic liquid handling is clearly the method of choice in drug discovery,” said Dr. Qiang Lu, Vice President of Discovery Biology of WuXi PharmaTech. “We are very pleased to incorporate the POD 810 into our systems. It will make our drug discovery efforts significantly more productive while it reduces cost through the elimination of disposable plastic tips. We know that acoustic liquid handling will significantly improve the quality of the data we generate. We are looking forward to a continuing relationship with Labcyte.”
The POD 810 plate assembler, a walk-away, out-of-the-box solution, transforms any Echo acoustic liquid handler into a Plates-On-Demand instrument. The POD system is controlled by its revolutionary Intellectual Scheduler with built-in intelligence to automatically adjust workflow to maximize productivity.
“The POD platform is uniquely positioned to advance method standardization across global sites,” said Mark Fischer-Colbrie, president and CEO of Labcyte Inc. “It eliminates the unnecessary delays associated with customized integration.”
“We are very pleased WuXi PharmaTech decided to acquire a Labcyte POD system,” said Sanger Chang, General Manager of Tekon Biotech. “Our exclusive relationship with Labcyte is further validation of our efforts to be the leading supplier of instrument systems for pharmaceutical research to the Chinese market by providing the highest level of technical support and service.”
About WuXi PharmaTech, Inc.
WuXi PharmaTech is a leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device R&D outsourcing company, with operations in China and the United States. As a research-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi PharmaTech provides pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies a broad and integrated portfolio of laboratory and manufacturing services throughout the drug and medical device R&D process. WuXi PharmaTech’s services are designed to assist its global partners in shortening the cycle and lowering the cost of drug and medical device R&D. For more information, please visit: www.wuxiapptec.com.
About Tekon Biotech
Tekon Biotech, founded in 1988, sells and supports a broad range of technologies to the China life sciences market. Tekon’s customers include all the major pharmaceutical and biotech companies plus the top 50 universities. Tekon is headquartered in Shanghai with offices in Hong Kong and Taipei. Tekon Biotech takes pride in providing the best service and technical support. For more information, visit www.tekon.net.
About Labcyte
Labcyte Inc. uses sound to move liquids. This green technology provides better results while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in decreased consumables. Our acoustic liquid handlers, coupled with our Deerac™ instruments, make Labcyte a leader in liquid handling with systems in all of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, as well as in leading contract research organizations, academic and research institutions worldwide. The Labcyte platform has broad applications in many fields including drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, diagnostics, cell biology and manufacturing. Labcyte, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with global sales, service and support, has 39 U.S., 7 European and two Japanese patents and additional U.S. and international filings. For more information, visit www.labcyte.com.
