Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has extended its longstanding integrated drug discovery alliance with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
 
Under the alliance, Charles River provides early discovery services, including medicinal chemistry, in vitro and in vivo biology, structural biology, and computer-aided drug design, to help identify promising candidates for preclinical development.
 
The companies have been engaged in an ongoing program since 2005, with the latest extension providing a three-year continuation. The program began with a single project involving medicinal chemistry, and has evolved to a multi-disciplinary collaboration employing Charles River’s chemistry research, biology and pharmacology services.
 
“We are proud to work with Genentech to identify early-stage molecules that will ultimately result in innovative treatments for patients,” said John Montana, executive director, Integrated Drug Discovery at Charles River. “Our long-term collaboration with Genentech has been mutually beneficial for both companies. As our teams have demonstrated, when biotechs and CROs work together, they have the ability to enhance innovations in early discovery research.”