Charles River Labs to cut over 600 jobs – The Boston Globe

Charles River Laboratories International is cutting over 600 jobs, citing softening demand from pharmaceutical clients.

The Wilmington-based life science contract research firm is planning to cut approximately 3 percent of its workforce, a spokesperson confirmed to the Globe on Friday. That means that roughly 654 of Charles River’s workforce — which employs roughly 21,800 people, according to its most recent annual report — are at risk of being laid off. The cuts were first reported by the Boston Business Journal.

Charles River, which provides contract research services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, first announced the “restructuring initiatives” during its second quarter earnings last month.

The spokesperson said that the cuts are being made with an eye towards “streamlining our cost structure to optimize our footprint, be more effective in supporting clients, and drive greater operating efficiencies.”

“We firmly believe that our clients will continue to seek life-saving treatments for rare diseases and other unmet medical needs, which drives us to position Charles River for the future,” the spokesperson said. “These steps will enable us to emerge as a stronger, leaner partner to help our clients achieve their goals by utilizing our scientific expertise and flexible solutions.”

Charles River employs approximately 2,400 people in Massachusetts, which is roughly 13 percent of its North American workforce, according to its spokesperson. Aside from its Wilmington headquarters, the company operates two full-fledged drug development labs in Shrewsbury and Worcester, as well as for-rent vivarium facilities in Cambridge, Watertown and, most recently, Somerville.

The company’s website also lists two facilities in Connecticut, located in Norwich and Voluntown. It also operates in the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, and various other locations in Europe and Asia.

Founded in Boston in 1947, Charles River Labs experienced rapid growth over the past decade; nine years ago, the company employed just 8,000 people. That was before the company embarked on a series of high-profile acquisitions — most recently Noveprim, a Mauritius-based firm that provides primates for drug research, in November 2023.

However, in its most recent earnings report, the company reported revenue declining more than 3 percent, to $1.03 billion. It attributed the decline to a decrease in demand from pharmaceutical companies, which comprise a major part of Charles River’s client base.

“The good news is we have a disproportionate share of big pharma in our portfolio,” said CEO James C. Foster said during a conference in New York on Tuesday. “The difficult news is that pharma is pulling back at the moment, so that hits us harder than others.”

The cuts come amid a glut in life sciences activity in Massachusetts, as the boom from the COVID-19 pandemic recedes and newly-built lab spaces sit empty. This year, the biopharmaceutical industry added fewer than 3,000 jobs in the state, a seven-year low.

Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @fonseca_esq and Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.