Under the agreement, Foundation Medicine will license and enable WuXi to perform the laboratory component of Foundation Medicine's FoundationOne assay at the WuXi Genome Center in Shanghai. Financial terms of the collaboration are not being disclosed.
FoundationOne is a genomic profile that helps physicians make treatment decisions for patients with cancer by identifying the molecular growth drivers of their cancers and helping oncologists match them with relevant targeted therapeutic options.
Dai Jialing, public relations director for WuXi, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com, “WuXi has seen rapidly increasing demand for molecular profiling services from biopharmaceutical companies as they scale up R&D operations and early development activities in the region.”
Foundation Medicine will offer China-based products and services to global biopharmaceutical partners to support their clinical research and development efforts in China.
The partnership, along with WuXi’s recent acquisition of DMPK/ADME service provider XenoBiotic Laboratories, shows the company is looking to expand and diversify beyond the manufacturing services driving its bottom line.
"China is poised to become the second-largest pharmaceutical market within the next few years," said Ge Li, chairman and CEO of WuXi. "We are pleased to partner with Foundation Medicine, the recognized global leader in comprehensive genomic profiling and a trusted partner of our customers, to provide best-in-class genomic testing to support targeted oncology therapeutic development in China."
Foundation Medicine is helping more than 20 biopharma companies provide genomic profiling, including in more than 100 studies in 2014. Partners include AstraZeneca, Eisai, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Sanofi.
Michael Pellini, president and CEO of Foundation Medicine added, "The development and use of targeted therapies and comprehensive diagnostic tests in oncology are expected to grow significantly in China. WuXi's leadership position in China makes WuXi an ideal partner."