Charles River expands presence in Asia with acquisition

Singapore-based BRASS specializes in endotoxin testing, bacterial and fungal identification of environmental isolates, sterilization validation, microbial quality control analysis and lot release testing.

Foster Jordan, Corporate SVP of Endotoxin and Microbial Detection at CRL, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com, “This acquisition will accelerate the growth of Charles River's presence in Asia​.”

Asia has become an important region for CRL as the company noted in an earnings call in August​ that client demand in China was on the rise.

With about 30 employees, BRASS “has been Charles River's distributor for endotoxin test reagents and accessories in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia since 1999 and most recently became a partner for our Biopharmaceutical Service business​,” Jordan added.

CRL’s services for the manufacturing industry include bacterial and fungal identification and strain typing of environmental isolates. The company uses sequence-based technologies to provide microbial identification services to more than 1,000 facilities worldwide, and according to CRL, its laboratory has tested and identified more microorganisms than any other company or service lab.

“Together, Charles River and BRASS are excited about the benefits of our combined expertise and commitment in delivering superior services to ensure safe manufacturing and timely release of our client's products​,” Jordan added. 

Busy Summer​

The acquisition of BRASS, which will be renamed Charles River Singapore, caps a busy summer for the early drug developer as analysts last spring noted that growth in the preclinical market stalled​ for much of the last year.

Since that announcement, CRL formed preclinical partnerships with Theorem and Target Health​, as well as the addition of new rat models​.

Academic clients and the US government​ also seem to have spent more on preclinical work in recent months.