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Charles River expands development lab space in Cambridge

The Boston Red Sox lost Tuesday, but the biotech city won Wednesday with Charles River beefing up its accelerator and development lab space in neighboring Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

The CRO is tripling the size of its drug research lab, opened in 2018, to 45,000 square feet. That is being coupled with a second location in Cambridge, which will eventually provide 18,000 square feet for vivarium rental space, Charles River said Wednesday. Vivariums are enclosed spaces meant to keep animals under seminatural conditions for observation and study.

The company provides equipment, personnel, training and management alongside animal husbandry expertise. The first phase of the new space is set to open later this year.

In total, Charles River houses eight facilities in the Bay State. The company also has vivarium rental space in South San Francisco and is slated to open similar services in London this autumn and soon in Shanghai as well, according to the company's website. 

The company snagged a five-year $95.7 million contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2018, part of which included managing and providing staffing for on-site vivarium operations. 

RELATED: Charles River offloads Japanese research model site, Swedish gene therapy CDMO for $115M

Charles River was in the news last week for offloading a research site in Japan for $63 million to Jackson Laboratory and a manufacturing site in Sweden for $52 million to biopharma investor Flerie Invest.