WuXi PharmaTech, a leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device research and development outsourcing company with operations in China and the United States, announced that its Suzhou non-clinical safety testing facility received full accreditation from the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC). As a result of an extensive on-site evaluation, AAALAC determined that WuXi PharmaTech's facility meets the highest standards of animal care and research practices.
AAALAC is a private, non-profit organization that promotes the humane treatment of animals in science through voluntary accreditation and assessment programs. It evaluates all aspects of an animal care and use program, including institutional policies, animal husbandry, veterinary care and the physical plant. In its evaluations, it relies on widely accepted guidelines, such as the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and other reference resources, as well as its own position statements and Rules of Accreditation.
"AAALAC accreditation establishes that our Suzhou facility meets international standards of animal care," said Dr. Ge Li, chairman and chief executive officer of WuXi PharmaTech. "This accreditation continues to demonstrate WuXi's ability to provide our global customers with high quality service in a regulatory compliant environment. We believe that China will become a major market for non-clinical safety testing services over the next decade, and our company aims to become a leading provider of such services in China. At 314,000 square feet and 108 animal rooms, our Suzhou facility is the largest in China.
"We have built world-class facilities not just in Suzhou but throughout our organization," Dr. Li continued. "Developing this new toxicology service capability further broadens our integrated service platform across drug discovery and preclinical development. Our mission is to help our customers to improve the success of discovery and shorten the time of development."