Charles River to divest CDMO and Cell Solutions businesses

Charles River Laboratories announced that it has signed definitive agreements to sell its CDMO and Cell Solutions businesses, as well as certain European Discovery Services assets, in separate transactions.

“We believe these actions will refine and further strengthen our portfolio and will also enhance shareholder value by executing on our plans to drive long-term growth, greater efficiency, and operational excellence,” said James Foster, Charles River president and CEO.

Charles River will divest its CDMO and Cell Solutions businesses to GI Partners, primarily for future, contingent performance-based payments. The CDMO business provides services related to the production of advanced therapies for gene-modified cell therapies, as well as gene therapies including viral vectors and plasmid DNA; and the Cell Solutions business provides human-derived cellular materials used in the development and production of cell therapies.

As part of the deal, the company will sell GI Partners its CDMO sites in Tennessee, Maryland, and the UK and its Cell Solutions site in California.

Separately, Charles River will divest certain European assets within its Discovery Services business to IQVIA Holdings for approximately $145 million in cash, with potential additional payments to Charles River of up to $10 million. As part of the deal, IQVIA will pick up five European sites that include certain discovery services capabilities in in vitro drug discovery services (Cambridge, UK site) and certain pharmacology services, primarily in the areas of oncology, neuroscience, immunology and advanced cell biology (Freiburg, Germany; Kuopio, Finland; Portishead, UK; and Leiden, Netherlands sites).