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Collaboration with
Charles River Laboratories
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Sep 27, 2001
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Charles River Collaborates with Medical College of Wisconsin
For Consomic Rat Models Used in Applied Genomics Research
WILMINGTON, Mass. & MILWAUKEE, Sep 27, 2001 (BW HealthWire)
-- Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL)
and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee today announced
that the organizations have entered into an agreement to distribute
novel "consomic" rat models developed at the Medical College
through a special breeding program. These unique animal models
will allow researchers to study the specific function of particular
genes that contribute to common multigenic human diseases of
the heart, lung and blood.
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Charles River will exclusively produce and distribute the consomic
rat models developed by the Medical College as well as provide
other critical support services such as cryopreservation and
rederivation. Five consomic strains currently exist and these
will begin to be made available to the research community later
this year and numerous additional strains will be developed
by MCW over the next several years.
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Consomic research models are generated by substituting whole
chromosomes one at a time in each of the rat strains. This allows
the contribution of genes on each chromosome to be studied in
the laboratory for the particular traits of interest. These
traits include conditions such as hypertension, myocardial infarction
and renal disease. The end result of the chromosome substitution
process developed at the Medical College is a rat model directed
toward understanding and treating a particular disease condition
from a gene function perspective, or pharmacogenomics. In addition,
these rat strains allow gene identification much more rapidly.
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The funding for the research and development of the consomic
rat models at the Medical College, known as PhysGen, is one
of eleven funded Programs for Genomic Applications (PGA) funded
by the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
An initial funding of the project was from the Merck Genome
Research Institute. An overview of the total PGA program, with
links to individual programs, is available at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/resources/pga/.
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"PhysGen is likely to be the first high throughput physiology
center in the world and our ability to collect over 200 heart,
lung and blood traits in each strain offers unprecedented knowledge
related to systems biology," said Allen Cowley, Jr., Ph.D.,
director of the Phenotyping Component of PhysGen and chairman
of the department of physiology at the Medical College.
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Data are available to the research community online at: http://pga.mcw.edu
Howard Jacob, Ph.D., a longtime leader in the field of rat genetics,
is the program director of PhysGen and Director of the Human
and Molecular Genetics Center at the Medical College. "We expect
the transfer of these technologies and resources to have a big
impact on the research community and we're pleased to be able
to collaborate with Charles River to deliver these resources,"
said Dr. Jacob. Charles River will utilize its existing facilities,
scientific staff and worldwide distribution network to ensure
that the models developed at the Medical College are widely
available to the biomedical research community.
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Charles River has long been regarded as the world's leading
supplier of animal research models to the global research community,
particularly for use in drug discovery and development. The
Company has recently focused its technology development initiatives
in the area of unique transgenic and cloned rat models that
enable researchers to more efficiently investigate, discover
and develop new treatments for human and animal diseases.
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"We're delighted to be working with the Medical College of
Wisconsin and Dr. Jacob in this new and very exciting area of
consomic rat models directed to applied genomics research,"
commented James C. Foster, Chairman & CEO. "We expect the world
class science being conducted at the Medical College by Dr.
Jacob and colleagues, with the financial support of the NHLBI
to lead to significant advances in understanding the genetic
contribution to common diseases of the heart, lung, kidneys
and blood. It's particularly rewarding to be able to direct
our expertise, resources and capabilities to supporting scientific
leaders focused on applied or functional genomics, as we move
from identifying and mapping genes to actually understanding
the contribution of genes in the disease process, beginning
with predictive animal models."
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The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee is the state's
only private, freestanding medical and graduate school. Founded
in 1893, it is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education,
patient care, research and service. More than 1,400 students
are enrolled in academic programs at the Medical College leading
to the M.D., Ph.D., M.S., M.P.H., and M.A. degrees. Medical
College faculty physicians provide care annually in every specialty
of medicine to approximately 250,000 patients. Last year, its
900 faculty physicians and scientists received approximately
$82 million in federal and private grants to conduct more than
1,500 medical research studies.
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Charles River Laboratories, based in Wilmington, Massachusetts,
is a leading provider of critical research tools and integrated
support services that enable innovative and efficient drug discovery
and development. The Company is the global leader in providing
the animal research models required in research and development
for new drugs, devices and therapies. The Company also offers
a broad and growing portfolio of biomedical products and services
that enable customers to reduce cost, increase speed, and enhance
productivity and effectiveness in drug discovery and development.
Charles River's customer base spans over 50 countries, and includes
all of the major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,
as well as many leading hospitals and academic institutions.
The Company operates 75 facilities in 15 countries worldwide.
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This document contains "forward looking statements." Such statements
involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied
by the forward looking statements, including acquisition integration
risks, special interest groups, contaminations, industry trends,
new displacement technologies, outsourcing trends, USDA and
FDA regulation, changes in law, special interests groups, continued
availability of products and supplies, personnel and control,
and others that are described in the Risk Factors contained
in the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-3, as filed
on July 19, 2001. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation
to update forward looking statements, and otherwise claims the
safe harbor protections for forward looking statements afforded
under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
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CONTACT: Charles River Laboratories, Inc. Dennis R. Shaughnessy
Marcia Gookin Investor Relations 978-658-6000 Ext. 1329 ir@criver.com
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CONTACT: Medical College of Wisconsin Toranj Marphetia Associate
Director of Public Affairs Director of Media Relations 414-456-4700
toranj@mcw.edu
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