Charles River Scientists in the News

Organ chip technologies, cell expansion challenges, good guidance for outsourcing IND, and updates at our Ohio, German, and Netherlands sites

Making Preclinical Models More Human

Animal models are the mainstay of preclinical research, but they haven’t always been a stellar performer in vetting new drugs. In fact, nine out of every 10 drugs that manage to reach human trails aren’t approved. But there are indications on both the in vitro and in vivo sides that suggest better days ahead, and these changes both speak to making these preclinical models behave more like people. Animal models have become more humanized and on in vitro models. For instance, there are now organ-on-a-chip systems that can now mimic how a single human organ and even mutiorgans function. And on the in vivo side, there is now a humanized mouse model susceptible to COVID-19 – an advance that greatly amplifies the value of the prolific mouse in future studies of SARS-CoV-2. The humanize model is available through Charles River Laboratories in partnership with and under license with GemPharmatech. You can read more about this trend in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News .

Cell Expansion and Meeting Economies of Scale

The emergence of cell therapies—while deeply promising for patients—also presents significant challenges for developers. As therapies are developed for diseases impacting larger numbers of patients, companies are grappling with how to scale up to meet the production needs. Improvements will require optimizing the many steps in cell therapy production, which include cell preparation (harvesting, purification, transfection), and cell expansion. In a recent article in Biocompare , Charles River C&G expert Matthew Hewitt the steps that will be needed to meet future cell therapies, from a more electric ray of processes to harvest cells, to a greater array of methods to how you modify the cells and improvements in automation. “As newer manufacturing technologies come online, production methods must be industrialized to bring costs down and make these potentially curative therapies readily available to patients,” says Hewitt, Ph.D., the Executive Director, Scientific Services Cell and Gene Therapy.

Ensuring a Strong Relationships Between CRO and Partner

What are some of the best practices to ensure a high-quality product? This article by Charles River scientist Peter Gaskin, looks at how to ensure contracts are established and signed quickly so that science moves forward, why quality assurance (QA) is integral to meeting regulatory compliance, how compromise and coordination are necessary for any winning partnership, and whether geography is important given the globalization of today’s economy.

Ashland, Ohio Site to Expand Its Facility

Charles is investing $212 million to expand its Safety Assessment site in Ashland. The growth will bring 500 new jobs to the community. You can read more about this project on JobsOhio , and in these media outlets, here and here .

NGZ Online: High-Tech Company Opens Laboratory

Earlier this month, Charles River opened a new Microbial Solutions facility in Kaarst, Germany to support their portfolio of endotoxin testing, microbial detection, and microbial identification products and services to ensure patient safety and product quality.

Omroep Brabant: Rare insight into animal testing lab: 'It has to happen, so I'll do it

Our site in Den Bosch participated in Labgesprekken, a day designed to facilitate discussion on animal research between community and industry.