Charles River Laboratories and PathoQuest have expanded their strategic partnership agreement to provide next-generation sequencing (NGS) services to the biologics industry. As part of the expanded partnership, Charles River intends to make a direct investment in PathoQuest.
 
Since 2016, Charles River has provided clients access to PathoQuest’s NGS solution, which combines a sample preparation method, equipment, and an exclusive curated pathogen database with a comprehensive BioIT analysis pipeline. PathoQuest’s NGS solution is a test for identifying adventitious agents in a single, comprehensive analysis designed to minimize false negatives while also providing a tool for the genetic characterization of cell lines.
 
“Our partnership with PathoQuest is integral to our ability to provide the most sensitive testing methods to our clients in order to ensure the safety of biological products produced by the biopharmaceutical industry,” said Greg Beattie, Corporate Vice President, Global Biologics Testing Solutions at Charles River. “PathoQuest’s NGS-based testing solution provides a comprehensive analysis that is both rapid and reliable.”
 
“Industry guidelines increasingly identify High-Throughput Sequencing, also known as NGS, as a highly sensitive and reliable testing solution,” said Jean-François Brepson, president and chief executive officer of PathoQuest. “We anticipate Charles River’s global footprint and biologics-industry leadership will enable the further growth and expansion of our platform.”
 
The combination of Charles River’s existing GLP and GMP capabilities and PathoQuest’s offering aims to allow for a fully integrated, rapid, and reliable solution for the testing of vaccines, biologics, and gene therapy products.