Charles River Laboratories and CHDI Foundation Extend Huntington’s Disease Collaboration
Behind every patient stands thousands of scientists and researchers collaborating to develop
life-saving drugs. Jenne’s story highlights the importance of that work.
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) and CHDI Foundation today announced a five-year extension of their
ongoing collaboration. The organizations began working together in 2005 on drug discovery and development for
Huntington’s disease (HD), a genetic neurological disease that causes the progressive dysfunction of nerve cells in the brain.
The extension will allow more flexible activity across the different Charles River platforms and entail greater integration into
CHDI’s programs.
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The contract extension covers multidisciplinary services from across Charles River’s portfolio, including:
- Integrated biology and chemistry capabilities
- Complex primary neuronal assay development
- High-content and fragment-based screening
- Computational chemistry
- Absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) and pharmacokinetics (PK)
- Protein crystallography
- Extensive in vivo pharmacology approaches in research models for translational assessment
Longstanding Collaboration
Over their 14-year collaboration, Charles River has established and validated tools and methodologies within expert teams to
support CHDI’s mission of developing novel therapeutics that will substantially improve the lives of those affected by HD.
Together, Charles River and CHDI have identified novel potential drug targets, bred and validated translational research animal
models, run large screens and generated proof-of-concept molecules, and evaluated the potential efficacy of both small molecule and
biologic candidates in preclinical models of HD. These cutting-edge approaches have resulted in over one hundred co-authored
posters and dozens of peer-reviewed papers. Additionally, the expertise developed throughout this partnership has helped more
broadly facilitate increased HD research within the larger drug discovery and development community.
Approved Quotes
- “Our longstanding partnership with CHDI is built on our mutual commitment to developing novel
therapies for Huntington’s disease. As an organization, our work with CHDI has led to a much larger commitment to support the HD
research community, through investments in methodologies, tools and personnel dedicated to this rare disease.” – Birgit Girshick,
Corporate Executive Vice President, Discovery & Safety Assessment, Biologics Testing Solutions, and Avian Vaccine Services at
Charles River
- “Charles River’s early drug discovery team has continuously delivered scientific expertise that
enables our drug discovery research to produce more efficient results. We are excited to continue our research and work toward
delivering a meaningful treatment to patients.” –Robi Blumenstein, President, CHDI Management, Inc.
- “We are continuously inspired by CHDI’s open approach to sharing knowledge and transferring
expertise. Our researchers take their work very personally—they are acutely aware of its potential impact—and focus on honing
their skills and learning new techniques to help progress HD research forward.” –Outi Kontkanen, Senior Director of Alliance
Management at Charles River
About CHDI Foundation, Inc.
CHDI Foundation, Inc. is a privately-funded nonprofit biomedical research organization that is exclusively dedicated to
collaboratively developing therapeutics that substantially improve the lives of those affected by Huntington’s disease. As a
collaborative enabler CHDI seeks to bring the right partners together to identify and address critical scientific issues and move
drug candidates to clinical evaluation as quickly as possible. Our scientists work closely with a network of more than 700
researchers in academic and industrial laboratories around the world in the pursuit of these novel therapies, providing strategic
scientific direction to ensure that our common goals remain in focus. More information about CHDI can be found at www.chdifoundation.org.
About Charles River
Charles River provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies
and leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their research and drug development efforts. Our dedicated employees
are focused on providing clients with exactly what they need to improve and expedite the discovery, early-stage development and
safe manufacture of new therapies for the patients who need them. To learn more about our unique portfolio and breadth of services,
visit
www.criver.com.
Investor Contact:
Charles River
Todd Spencer
Corporate Vice President, Investor Relations
781-222-6455
todd.spencer@crl.com
Media Contacts:
Charles River
Amy Cianciaruso
Corporate Vice President, Public Relations
781-222-6168
amy.cianciaruso@crl.com
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