Charles River Labs awarded $111.6m NCI contract

By Wai Lang Chu

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Cancer

Charles River Laboratories has been awarded a $111.6m (€89m),
10-year contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), doubling
the size of the company's current contract with NCI.

This latest agreement is an extension to an existing collaboration in which Charles River has provided onsite staffing support to NCI's Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center (FCRDC), for the last twelve years.

As part of the new contract, Charles River will construct a shared-use facility to provide research model production and related services to NCI-FCRDC. Further financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Charles River will also dedicate an 80-person staff to collaborate with NCI-FCRDC in providing genetically defined, pathogen-free, mice to support NCI/NIH (National Institutes of Health) funded research.

The research aims to target the causes and treatments of infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, cancer, bioterrorism threats and other nationally recognised health issues.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to extend and expand our collaboration with NCI-FCRDC and to dedicate a significant portion of this new facility to supporting NCI's future research needs,"​ said James Foster, Charles River's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

"I am confident that the construction of this new shared facility will provide significant opportunities for our Research Models & Services business to increase its presence in this targeted market."

The new, facility will be constructed in close proximity to NCI-FCRDC's current operation in Frederick, Maryland, and Charles River expects construction to be completed in the third quarter of 2008.

The portion of the shared facility dedicated to meeting NCI-FCRDC's support needs will be staffed and operated by Charles River's Consulting and Staffing Services (CSS) group.

Additional terms of the new contract will see Charles River assume responsibility for the management of the NCI/NIH Tumour and Natural Products Repositories, in support of the Developmental Therapeutics Program.

These Repositories store a wide array of tumour and other samples under carefully controlled conditions so that they can be made available to researchers who are exploring the causes and treatment of cancer and other diseases.

The portion of the shared-use facility not dedicated to NCI will be occupied by Charles River's Research Models and Services (RMS) business, which will use this new space as a platform for growth in the Baltimore/Washington geographic market.

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