CRO

BASi trims lab costs to recoup losses from first half of 2012

The financial expectations Bioanalytical Systems ($BASI) executives had hoped for in the first half of fiscal 2012 were not met, according to its second-quarter results. With that, the Indiana CRO will have to reconfigure some of its lab operations in an effort to recoup losses.

Overall revenue fizzled 12% over the first half that ended March 31 compared with a year earlier, which led to BASi deciding to close its McMinnville, OR, lab before the end of this month. Consolidating the services there into BASi's facility in West Lafayette, IN, will lead to a charge of $450,000 in the current quarter, CFO and Vice President of Finance Jacqueline Lemke said in the financial report.

But laboratory consolidation and cutbacks don't end there. BASi will reduce operating costs at its labs in West Lafayette and Evansville, IN, over the next few months, while continuing to monitor its U.K. lab in Warwickshire to make a determination of where to go with it. And just like Covance ($CVD) and Charles River Laboratories ($CRL) experienced this year, demand for services in toxicology lagged, though BASi saw some slight improvement in requests for work in the sector, President and CEO Tony Chilton maintains in a statement.

If the chips fall into place and BASi plays its cards right, the changes over the next few months could save $4.5 million annually, according to the CRO.

- read the financial report