When Charles River Laboratories (CRL) CEO Birgit Girshick started her career as an executive assistant with the company in Germany in 1989, she didn’t know what was possible for her career in the world of biotech. She did know she wanted to make a difference.
So she set about doing that wherever she went. She said yes to bigger projects and more responsibilities, and eventually came to the United States for an initiative and never left. After earning two degrees in the U.S., her leadership trajectory took off. She eventually managed the segment of the business where she began as an executive assistant. She was named chief operating officer in 2021 and worked closely with former CEO James Foster.
Following an announcement earlier this year, Girshick assumed the role of CEO in May and is now on a roadshow visiting the company’s 120 facilities in 20 countries. She is meeting with many of the company’s nearly 20,000 employees to better understand what she can do as CEO of CRL.
She spoke with Fierce Biotech about what she is learning on the road and what she sees as “the next big transition” in the industry.
Much of the news connected to the contract research organization (CRO) world today centers on how technology is changing processes, and Girshick sees modernizing administrative burdens as one of her top priorities for the company. A major aspect of that change is increased collaboration between CROs and trial sponsors.
At CRL, that increased collaboration takes the form of a platform where clients have access to study data, information about who is working on what, reports, statistics and anything else produced by CRL employees. In prior years, interaction was more email-based, with regular reports sent at the end of a study.
“Now if our clients want to go in and see the body weight of the animals, see the latest analytical results on a Saturday night, they can get way ahead of that report [and] see what's going on with the study,” Girshick said.
CRL is rolling out this level of data sharing with a few sponsors but plans to make it available to all clients soon. Because CRL study directors can meet with clients and review results in real time, the platform provides faster access to data designed to improve outcomes. The data sharing also allows clients to deploy their own AI and computational models to glean insights and make adjustments to studies as they progress.
“That's absolutely the fastest way of getting insights from the work you're doing, and I think that is going to be the next big transition,” Girshick said.
Increased access to data also means expectations have risen for CROs and their employees in terms of recordkeeping and responsiveness. As Girshick has connected with leaders around the country, she has heard that employees already find their work intensive and demanding, even without increased data sharing expectations. But she sees the initiative as an opportunity to differentiate CRL from competitors.
“It's an opportunity for a company like ours, as the market leader,” Girshick said. “We have done investments in this space, and I love the challenge because it will set us further apart from the rest of the industry and differentiate us.”
A major force in the CRO world, CRL underwent a strategic review last year following a revenue slide that prompted layoffs and site closures. The company announced in February that it was offloading its entire contract manufacturing operation and some of its European discovery service assets after previously promising to shed “underperforming or non-core” parts of its business.
As a leader who has been present through the recent revenue decline and workforce reductions, it will be up to Girshick to right the ship and return the business to growth.
In an industry that is both integral to the creation of life-saving medications and often removed from the real-world impact of employees’ day-to-day duties, Girshick said another priority is helping workers stay connected to the mission.
CRL has clients give presentations to employees about the impact of the drugs they help develop and allows employees to get deeply involved with drug programs designed for patients who don’t have any other options. Often, those patients are young children being represented by a parent. CRL staff can work with the patient, family and physician to help develop a drug, guide it through safety studies and engage with the FDA.
“Those programs are so motivational for our employees,” Girshick said. “We have had tremendous impact taking drug programs from one animal study right into the patient, because otherwise that patient couldn't wait any longer.”
Whether it is incorporating more technology and collaborating more closely with clients, maintaining employee morale or emphasizing animal welfare, Girshick is looking forward to making an impact at the company where she began her career nearly 40 years ago.
Girshick said she has emphasized CRL’s ability to align itself with clients both in mission and in the lab, and technology is enabling greater data sharing, communication and cohesion. The hope is that those efforts will lead to better drugs and improved health outcomes.
“When I go to a client, I tell them ‘We are an extension of you. We are on your team. We're sitting around the same table. Your goal is our goal, and when you have a win, when you bring a drug to the patients, that's our motivation.’”