Life Sciences, Layoffs, pharmaceuticals

Charles River Cutting 3% of Workers

Ryan McBride 2/10/09

Charles River Laboratories International (NYSE:CRL), a Wilmington, MA-based contract researcher for the pharmaceutical industry, says that it plans to reduce its global workforce by 3 percent during the first quarter of this year to reduce costs. The firm reportedly has between 8,500 and 9,000 employees, meaning the cuts could impact from 255 to 270 workers. The majority of layoffs will be in the company’s preclinical services business, which reported an 8.3-percent decline in revenue during the fourth quarter of last year.

Ryan McBride is Xconomy's correspondent. You can reach him at rmcbride@xconomy.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Ryan_McBride.