Fortrea

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Template:Animal testing Fortrea Holdings Inc. is a contract research organization organized in Delaware and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina with operations in 90 countries. Its customers are primarily in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries.<ref name=10K/>

Its primary business is handling all aspects of clinical trials including phase I through IV clinical trial management, clinical pharmacology, and post-approval services. It handles regulatory affairs, protocol design, operational planning, study and site start-up, patient recruitment, project management, monitoring, data management and biostatistics, pharmacovigilance, medical writing, and mobile clinical services. It focuses on oncology, central nervous system and neurodegenerative, rare diseases, and cell and gene therapies. In the five years ending in 2023, it conducted more than 5,850 clinical trials involving over 1 million subjects. It also conducted over 600 studies for medical device companies.<ref name=10K/>

The company is one of the largest participants in the international primate trade and has been criticized for its animal testing practices, most specifically animal testing on non-human primates.

The company traces its roots to Environmental Sciences Corporation, formed in 1968. It was known as Hazleton from 1972 to 1990, Corning Lab Services from 1990 to 1996, Covance from 1996 to 2021, and Labcorp Drug Development from 2021 to 2023.

History

1968–1999

In 1968, Environmental Sciences Corporation was established in Seattle, Washington, manufacturing equipment related to laboratory animals.<ref name=encyclopedia>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> In 1972, it acquired and took the name of Hazleton Laboratories, a contract laboratory that conducted toxicology testing.<ref name=encyclopedia/> In 1977, Corning Inc. purchased a stake in Hazleton and in 1987, it acquired the remainder of the company for $115 million.<ref name=encyclopedia/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By 1982, Hazleton was the largest independent biological testing company and life sciences laboratory in the U.S. and the largest laboratory equipment manufacturer worldwide.<ref name=encyclopedia/> The company carried out animal toxicology tests of drugs, cosmetics, pesticides, and industrial chemicals, and bred rhesus monkeys and beagles for its own labs, as well as for chemical and drug companies, hospitals, universities and government agencies. It offered chemical analysis of new compound products for various industries, tested chemicals for gene mutations, and carried out research with monoclonal antibodies.<ref name=encyclopedia/> It sold the equipment manufacturing unit in the mid-1980s.<ref name=encyclopedia/>

In 1989, Corning Glass Works acquired G.H. Besselaar Associates, which conducted clinical trials for drug approvals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1990, Hazleton acquired Microtest, a molecular toxicology center in York, England.<ref name=encyclopedia/> Corning Glass Works changed its name to Corning, and folded Besselaar and Hazelton into a new subsidiary, Corning Lab Services. In 1991, Corning Lab Services acquired SciCor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1992, it acquired Philadelphia Association of Clinical Trials. In 1993, Hazleton, Besselaar, and SciCor were combined into Corning Pharmaceutical Services, then Corning Life Sciences.<ref name=encyclopedia/>

In 1995, Corning Pharmaceutical Services acquired National Packaging Systems, an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based clinical trial packaging company.<ref name=encyclopedia/>

In 1997, Corning completed the corporate spin-off of its laboratory testing business as Quest Diagnostics and its pharmaceutical services business as Covance.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the fourth quarter of 1998, the company acquired GDXI, which undertakes the capture and interpretation of electrocardiograms, and Berkeley Antibody Company, which provides contract services in custom antibody production, applied immunology, and custom animal testing to support the medical device industry and preclinical evaluations, for a total of $26 million in cash.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2000-present

In 2000, the company opened a central laboratory in Singapore, building on clinical-development services formed in Singapore in 1996.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> In 2013, it expanded the capacity of the laboratory by 50%.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2001, the company sold Covance Pharmaceutical Packaging Services to Fisher Scientific for $137.5 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2005, it acquired GFI Clinical Services, an 80-bed clinical pharmacology business, from West Pharmaceutical Services for $5.7 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2006, the company acquired eight early phase clinical pharmacology sites from Radiant Research for $65 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In June 2006, it acquired Signet Laboratories, a provider of monoclonal antibodies used in the research of cancer, infectious disease, and neurodegenerative disease, for $8.95 million.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In 2007, the company opened a laboratory in Shanghai, China.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> In 2019, it opened a research and development center in Shanghai.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In August 2008, the company acquired a campus in Greenfield, Indiana from Eli Lilly and Company and executed a 10-year service drug development service agreement with Lilly.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In December 2008, the company acquired a minority equity stake in Caprion Proteomics, a provider of proteomics-based services to the pharmaceutical industry.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The company was acquired by Chicago Growth Partners in July 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2009, the company acquired the Gene Expression Laboratory from Merck & Co. and entered into a five-year, $145 million contract to provide Merck with genomic analysis services.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2010, the company and Sanofi-Aventis created an outsourcing partnership, which, at the time was considered the largest between a contract research organization and a pharmaceutical company. Covance also acquired sites from Sanofi-Aventis in Porcheville, France and Alnwick, United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, the company acquired Medaxial, a London-based value communication consultancy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 2015, Labcorp acquired Covance for $6.1 billion in cash and stock.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2016, the company entered into a strategic alliance with Global Specimen Solutions, in which the company offered GSS products GlobalCODE and snapTRACK to its clients.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> In December 2017, Covance acquired the company.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In September 2017, the company acquired Chiltern, a specialty contract research organization, for $1.2 billion in cash.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2018, the company acquired Sciformix Corporation, a scientific process outsourcing company focused on pharmacovigilance and regulatory issues for biopharmaceutical and medical devices clients.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2018, Covance Food Solutions was sold to Eurofins Scientific for $670 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In June 2019, the company acquired the nonclinical contract research services business of Envigo (now Inotiv), which acquired the research products business of the company.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the first quarter of 2019, the company spent $47 million to acquire MI Bioresearch, a provider of preclinical capabilities in cell and gene therapy and oncology testing, and Regulatory and Clinical Research Institute (RCRI), a device-focused contract research organization.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In October 2020, the company acquired GlobalCare, a mobile nursing and ambulant care company with operations in more than 65 countries, and snapIoT, a company that provides a digitized clinical platform that supports remote participation in clinical trials.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In June 2021, the company changed its name to Labcorp Drug Development.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 2023, the company was renamed Fortrea Holdings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In July 2023, Labcorp completed the corporate spin-off of the company.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In June 2024, the company sold its Endpoint Clinical and Fortrea Patient Access businesses to Arsenal Capital Partners.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Controversies

Reston virus: monkeys with ebola virus brought to U.S.

In December 1989, several crab-eating macaques with the Zaire ebolavirus were imported from Mindanao in the Philippines to the company's facility in Reston, Virginia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The strain of the virus became known as the Reston virus. It was the first ebola virus that emerged outside of Africa and was also the first known natural infection of ebola virus in nonhuman primates.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The facility was abandoned and torn down and the variant turned out to be non-lethal to humans.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The incident was an inspiration for The Hot Zone, a book by Richard Preston published in 1994.<ref name=over>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 1996, two macaques that had been shipped to the company's facility in Alice, Texas, tested positive for the Ebola virus from a group of 100 obtained from the same supplier. The virus strain was the same non-lethal Reston virus as in the earlier incident.<ref name=over/>

Animal welfare issues

Reports from investigative journalists

In 2003, a German investigative journalist sponsored by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) filmed 40 hours of undercover footage at the company's primate-testing facility in Münster.<ref name=Schiermeier>Template:Cite news</ref> Two films were produced, which were shown on German public television in December 2003. The footage showed animal keepers dancing with half-anaesthetized monkeys, making their heads move to the rhythm of the music.<ref name=Schiermeier/> It also showed rough treatment of the monkeys by the staff. The monkeys were seen living isolated in small wire cages with little or no natural light and no environmental enrichment, with high noise levels caused by staff shouting and playing the radio, and undergoing surgery with no post-operative care. In response, the company maintained that clips showing different technicians working in different buildings had been edited together, resulting in a sequence of events that did not take place. The company also said there was group housing and pair housing for some monkeys that was not shown. In the films, the treatment of the monkeys was criticized by Jane Goodall. The environment minister for North Rhine-Westphalia asked the public prosecutor to investigate, and said that if the allegations were borne out, the company would lose its licence to keep primates.<ref name=Schiermeier/><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> The company gained an injunction against the video.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

From April 2004 to March 2005, an undercover technician, sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), filmed the treatment of monkeys in the company's lab in Vienna, Virginia. Incidents filmed included the punching of injured monkey, failure to give veterinary care and self-mutilation by monkeys because of "failure to provide psychological enrichment".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration investigated the claims and company agreed to a settlement of $8,720 and to fix the infractions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Buske>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2005, the company filed a lawsuit in the United States against PETA and the investigator for fraud, breach of employee contract, and conspiracy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> PETA agreed to hand over all video footage and written notes to the company, and agreed to a ban on conducting any infiltration of the company for five years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The company then dropped the lawsuit.<ref name=Buske/> The company filed a parallel lawsuit in England in an attempt to stop PETA showing the tape; the British judge called the footage "highly disturbing", and ruled that there was a legitimate public interest in the material being shown. The case was settled with PETA allowed to continue to publish the video.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Celebrity protests of business expansion

In 2006, Paul McCartney protested a proposed $175 million animal testing laboratory by the company in Chandler, Arizona.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, the laboratory opened in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Animal welfare citations by the United States Department of Agriculture

In June 2011, a report showed that improper housing conditions led to frostbite on the tails of many monkeys.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In February 2012, the company was cited after a monkey died after being entangled by an enrichment device.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In March 2012, the company was cited for housing a monkey in isolation for almost eight months.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Deaths of lab monkeys due to hyperthermia

The company was fined $31,500 for four violations of the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 after 13 cynomolgus monkeys died from hyperthermia in overheated rooms in September and October 2014. In July 2014, the company had transported monkeys to the facility without providing water or proper care and ignoring signs of weakness and distress. The company said it would add electronic temperature monitoring and alerts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Broken bone injuries in monkeys

In November 2023, the company was fined $9,000 due to the injuries of six monkeys between 2018 and 2022, mostly broken bones due to poor handling. After the injuries, four monkeys were euthanized.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Template:Official website