Charles River Labs To Transfer Biologics Testing Operations to New Facility
Charles River Laboratories, a Wilmington, Massachusetts-headquartered contract research organization (CRO), has acquired a new facility in Wayne, Pennsylvania to use as laboratory space for biologics testing.
Along with testing laboratories, the new facility, known as Devon Park, will also have suites for performing viral-clearance studies. The facility is expected to more than double the laboratory space available at the company’s current facilities in Malvern and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The company says most laboratory operations conducted in Malvern and King of Prussia will move to the Devon Park facility beginning in early third quarter of 2018. Current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) manufacturing will remain in Malvern, where the cleanroom facilities are currently being expanded to support an increase in cell- and viral-banking capacity.
Charles River Labs says a team at the company began preparatory activities in November 2017 and, along with its group of scientists, are considering the design and allocation of laboratory space along with planning the transfer of equipment and protocols. The company says the formal transfer of assays will be done in phases, and during this time, the Malvern and King of Prussia facilities will remain fully operational. cGMP testing in the new Devon Park facility is expected to commence during the summer of 2018.
Source: Charles River Laboratories