- Charles River Laboratories has announced plans to acquire PathoQuest, a provider of next-generation sequencing solutions for biopharmaceutical quality-control testing.
- The acquisition is intended to expand advanced, animal-free GMP testing capabilities within Charles River’s biologics testing services.
Charles River Laboratories International has announced plans to acquire PathoQuest, a provider of next-generation sequencing (NGS) solutions for the characterisation and quality-control testing of biopharmaceutical products. The move builds on a long-standing relationship between the two companies that began more than nine years ago through an exclusive partnership.
PathoQuest’s NGS solutions combine validated test methods with proprietary sample preparation and bioinformatics analysis. According to Charles River, these capabilities support animal-free biosafety testing, characterisation, and product release applications across the global biopharmaceutical industry. The company has previously offered PathoQuest’s technologies to clients as part of its testing services.
Central to the offering is PathoQuest’s iDTECT® quality-control platform, which is designed to identify adventitious agents through a single, comprehensive analysis. The system also supports genetic characterisation of cell lines and viral vectors, with the aim of reducing false negatives in biosafety testing workflows.
Charles River said the proposed acquisition will strengthen its existing biologics testing capabilities by adding rapid, advanced GMP testing solutions. The integration of PathoQuest’s NGS approach is intended to support the company’s Alternative Methods Advancement Project, which focuses on adopting new approach methodologies to replace animal use in biosafety testing.
The company added that the transaction is expected to help accelerate clients’ quality-control testing timelines and support the broader drug development process.
