Like many life sciences outfits undergoing a restructuring, Charles River Laboratories is balancing layoffs and a business strategy revamp with the need to grow and invest in emerging technologies. For CRL, that effort involves advancing new research tactics beyond animal testing.
While efforts to elevate those tools—dubbed new approach methodologies (NAMs)—have received vocal support from the U.S. government, Charles River's work in the field predates the second Trump administration.
The pursuit of animal-sparing research methods is “definitely an evolution and not a revolution,” Charles River’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, Birgit Girshick, said in a recent interview with Fierce. Under a leadership transition unveiled earlier this month, Girshick is set to ascend to the CEO position at the contract research organization (CRO) in May.
So far in 2026, Charles River has advanced its ambitions in NAMs while also fortifying its position in animal research through a pair of deals.
Two weeks ago, the CRO giant announced that it is planning to acquire the assets of Cambodia-based non-human primate (NHP) supplier K.F. for roughly $510 million, and that it exercised its option to acquire the remaining 79% stake in PathoQuest, a France-based provider of next-generation sequencing tools for manufacturing quality control.
To hear Girshick tell it, the K.F. deal gives Charles River “better control over the supply chain,” as well as “utmost control over the processes at the site, the shipping, the compliance and certainly also engaging the employees and making sure we get the best quality in every aspect possible.”
The timing was right, too, given that Charles River was cleared in November following an investigation into monkey trafficking that arose in 2023.
As for PathoQuest, the company’s sequencing tech “replaces some animal work that was previously used to screen for viral infections and things like that,” Girshick added.
“We’re very excited about what this company has built,” Girshick said of the PathoQuest deal. “There is a great database, great relationships with clients, great regulatory compliance, so it will seamlessly integrate with one of our testing businesses.”
Although NAMs, which include tools like organoids, organs-on-chips and biology-simulating computer models, are becoming increasingly important in biopharma research, the industry is likely still “years off” from replacing animal testing outright, Girshick explained.
“The non-human primate is probably the most important research animal to give us information on human translatability,” she explained.
“There’s 78 organs in a body; You have several processes, you have immune responses,” Girshick elaborated. “And how do we get that from an organ on a chip or an organoid? Do we really need to get all that information, or can we use it as a risk assessment tool? I think this is where the industry will go to, where you’re kind of trying to figure out the worst-case scenarios.”
At present, insights gleaned from NAMs largely inform whether companies should go forward with animal studies, rather than getting rid of research animals altogether, Girshick stressed. The CRL exec expects a “hybrid” approach to take hold, a strategy she suggested offers the industry the best way to “really reduce the animal usage.”
Charles River formally launched its Alternative Methods Advancement Project, focused on developing alternatives to reduce animal testing, back in April of 2024, and last year it tapped FDA veteran Namandjé Bumpus, Ph.D., to helm a scientific advisory board guiding its NAM ambitions.
In its acquisition announcement earlier this month, Charles River noted that it had also elevated Bumpus to the role of SVP, chief scientific and innovation officer, where she will oversee the CRO’s science strategy, R&D initiatives and support innovation to help speed up the drug development process for clients.
Changing winds at Charles River
Girshick’s comments come as change takes hold at Charles River. Following a strategic review spurred on by its largest shareholder, Elliott Investment Management, last May, the CRO revealed in November that it plans to shed “underperforming or non-core” portions of its business that make up roughly 7% of its projected revenue for 2025.
At the same time, Charles River said it would launch cost-savings initiatives in a bid to save around $70 million a year, while also investing in growth areas like bioanalysis and NAMs and looking to expand its geographic footprint, too.
Once she steps into the CEO role later this year, Girshick said she wants the mark she leaves on the company to be one of modernization.
As with many companies in the life sciences space, Charles River will continue to explore approaches to using new technologies like automation, digitization and artificial intelligence, Girshick noted. And on the geographic front, Girshick said that a review of where the company should operate is ongoing. She explained that while CRL has deep roots in places like Canada, the U.S. and Europe, the company is “a little less strong” in Asia and China specifically.
While Girshick declined to elaborate further on the cuts Charles River is planning across portions of its business, the company's goal, as she put it, is to ensure that clients “can’t—hopefully—get it any better anywhere else.”
“We have the best science, we have the best technologies, but if [the client] can get it somewhere else cheaper or as good, that may not be the area we want to continue to work on.”
Girshick also briefly touched on Charles River's CDMO business, which is focused specifically on cell and gene therapies and, as such, has a “very narrow kind of scope” compared to some of the industry's manufacturing contractors. Nevertheless, pressures on the cell and gene field—financial, safety-related or in terms of innovation unrealized—have posed recent challenges.
“This might all work itself out,” Girshick admitted, “but, with that, we are a little bit more on a holding back pattern,” she said of Charles River's CDMO strategy.
“We have the facilities, we work with our clients, but we’re not expanding or anything,” she explained, noting that Charles River will, naturally, watch where that leg of the industry is heading.
As with many others in the industry heading into 2026, Girshick adopted a hopeful tone when reflecting on how she foresees the chips falling this year. After “a little bit of a lull over the last two years,” public offerings are experiencing a slight rebound, she observed.
“I think pharma companies are back to work, and so I’m just looking forward to a year where we can actually maybe talk a little bit less about the funding and a little bit more about new breakthroughs [and] technologies,” Girshick said.