Exhibit 99.1


WEST PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES PROVIDES UPDATE ON ASSESSMENT OF MANUFACTURING
CAPABILITIES

LIONVILLE, PA, FEBRUARY 11, 2003-- West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:
WST) today provides an update on recovery and manufacturing plans in reference
to the explosion that occurred on January 29 at its plant in Kinston, North
Carolina. The severely damaged building houses the Automated Compounding System
(ACS), where bulk raw materials are compounded into rubber formulations for
molding into medical device components, as well as a molding and finishing area,
where finished components are produced. In addition to supplying stock for the
Kinston molding operation, the ACS compounded rubber materials for distribution
to other West manufacturing locations.

Recovery efforts at the site are well underway. Substantially all of the
finished goods from the molding facility have been removed and are being shipped
to customers subject to quality assurance approval. The majority of the molding
tools has been recovered and, based on a preliminary assessment, appears to be
in useable condition. The tooling has been shipped to other West facilities in
Florida, Nebraska, Singapore and the U.K., where it will be put into service,
subject to cleaning and further evaluation to determine suitability for
production. This process should be completed within the next two to four weeks.

To accommodate the loss of the ACS facility, some rubber compounding production
will move to West's St. Petersburg, Florida and Kearney, Nebraska operations,
with other capacity shifting to Singapore and European operations to support
mold tooling moved to those venues. In addition, previously approved U.S.
suppliers will be re-qualified for support as needed.

"The responsiveness of our recovery and logistics teams has produced an initial
assessment of our recoverable assets and a better understanding of our near-term
customer needs," said Donald E. Morel, Jr, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and
President of West. "This information will allow us to prioritize our production
schedules as appropriate to assure continuity of supply to our customers. At
this point, we believe that a substantial portion of the Kinston compounding and
molding production can be incorporated into our other manufacturing facilities
by late April or early May.

"We hope to be able to rebuild in Kinston and we are accelerating our efforts to
resume production there," added Dr. Morel.

West is increasing production at its other facilities around the world to offset
the loss of production at the Kinston plant. West is also in the process of
relocating some of the many skilled employees from Kinston to other West U.S.
facilities on a temporary basis. Transfers will begin next week as employees'
skills and interests are matched with current and anticipated manufacturing
needs.

"I'm proud of the effort and dedication shown by our employees in response to
the challenges presented by the Kinston situation," said Dr. Morel, "and we
continue to be heartened by the support shown our company and employees
worldwide, by our customers, shareholders and the Kinston community."


ABOUT WEST PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE: WST) is a global drug delivery
technology company that applies proprietary materials science, formulation
research and manufacturing innovation to advance the quality, therapeutic value,
development speed and rapid market availability of pharmaceuticals, biologics,
vaccines and consumer healthcare products. West is the world's premiere provider




of standard-setting systems and device components for parenterally administered
medicines and an emerging leader in the development of advanced formulation
technologies for the transmucosal delivery of drugs. Internationally
headquartered in Lionville, Pennsylvania, West supports its partners and
customers from 50 locations throughout North America, South America, Europe,
Mexico, Japan, Asia and the Pacific and Australia. For more information visit
West at www.westpharma.com.


Certain statements contained in this Press Release that are not historical are
"forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "estimate," "expect," "intend,"
"believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those
expressed in any forward looking statement and are dependent on a number of
factors including, but not limited to: sales demand, timing of customers'
projects; successful development of proprietary drug delivery technologies and
systems; regulatory, licensee and/or market acceptance of products based on
those technologies; competitive pressures; the strength or weakness of the U.S.
dollar; inflation; the cost of raw materials; the availability of credit
facilities; the timely replacement of fire-damaged production capacity at the
Company's Kinston, N.C. facility, any related loss of sales and insurance
recoveries for property losses and/or liability to third parties resulting from
that event; and, statutory tax rates.