Charles River Laboratories Acquires Distributed Bio

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) announced today that it acquired of Distributed Bio, Inc. on December 31, 2020. The acquisition marks the culmination of an exclusive partnership between these companies that was initiated in October 2018. Based in South San Francisco, California, Distributed Bio is a next-generation antibody discovery company. Distributed Bio’s SuperHuman™ antibody libraries and integrated antibody optimization technologies help to enhance the probability of success for delivering high-quality, readily formattable antibody fragments to support antibody and cell and gene therapy candidates to biopharmaceutical clients. Distributed Bio’s libraries are computationally optimized for both sequence diversity and immuno-engineering fitness through the analysis of thousands of human antibody repertoires and all known monoclonal therapeutics in clinical trials, which can generate many unique binders against every antigen tested. This large molecule discovery platform improves the chance of successful hit finding, reduces optimization requirements, and thereby expedites the antibody discovery process by several months. Distributed Bio’s computational immunology expertise also enables optimization of existing client antibodies generated through more traditional platforms, such as hybridoma or traditional phage display. The acquisition of Distributed Bio expands Charles River’s scientific capabilities with an innovative, large-molecule discovery platform. The transaction combines Distributed Bio’s antibody libraries and immuno-engineering platform with Charles River’s extensive drug discovery and non-clinical development expertise to create an integrated, end-to-end platform for therapeutic antibody and cell and gene therapy discovery and development. The purchase price was $83 million in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments. In addition to the initial purchase price, the transaction includes contingent additional payments of up to $21 million based on future performance. The proposed acquisition and associated fees have been financed through Charles River’s existing revolving credit facility and cash. Distributed Bio’s estimated annual revenue in 2020 was approximately $15 million. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on Charles River’s GAAP or non-GAAP financial results in 2021. Distributed Bio will become part of the Company’s Discovery and Safety Assessment segment.
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