BEIJING - Betting on the belief that Big Pharma will speed up the transfer of research and manufacturing to China, leading contract research organization WuXi PharmaTech is expanding its chemistry services even while preparing to launch a new biologics testing and production center near its headquarters in Shanghai

BEIJING - Like a prospective bride who has been jilted at the very last moment by a suitor, Shanghai's WuXi PharmaTech has been abandoned by the Massachusetts-headquartered Charles River Laboratories on the eve of the two contract research organizations' merger

China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) is drafting a new regulation on "service innovation" to encourage companies and researchers in the country to raise their investment in, and the conduct of, innovation. However, the move may also have an impact on the soaring drug discovery industry in China as it will mean higher payments to inventors with knock-on effects on local drug discovery and CROs.